Mon Petit Series
by Carringtones
Summary: It all started that night when I heard the girl screaming for help. I hadn't heard anyone calling for need of a daemons help in so long; I thought people had forgot about us and the underworld. Although when I came to the site of the screams, I hid in the shadows wondering if I should make try to make a new contract. She looked up and asked "Who are you?".
1. Mon Petit Chou: Prologue

**AN: For those of you who don't speak french the title means my little cabbage (I know funny). In France its used as a term of endearment. Also please comment, I love to get feedback. Also this takes some time to get into the plot so just be patient. Thanks for reading. :)**

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**Prologue**

**Sebastian Pov:**

It all started that night when I heard the girl screaming for help. I hadn't heard anyone calling for need of a daemon's help in so long; I thought people had forgotten about us and the underworld. When I came to the site of the screams, I hid in the shadows wondering if I should make try to make a new contract. I found not a small child like I was used too, but a sixteen year old girl. I could tell she had been struggling there for awhile and decided to intervene. I made her aware of my presence by walking out from behind the shadows. As I stepped out, I saw she was in a dark room with very little light coming from one window. She looked up and said, "Who are you?". I could see she had dark brown eyes, even though they were full of tears. I was not sure how to answer since she obviously could only see the outline of my figure. I answered as truthfully as I could without totally revealing who I _really _was. "I am a daemon. Here to help you out of your pain."

**Amélie Pov:**

I woke up with sweat on my forehead from another nightmare. I was used to them since I had been having nightmares since I was very little. When I completely opened my eyes I was surprised to see the same man from my dream standing at the foot of my bed. He stated with a tone of happiness, "Good morning Mistress Amélie." I did not know what to do, whether to be shocked or to faint. So from the shock I fainted.

* * *

I woke up yet again, but this time the man was holding my head so it would not fall off the edge of the bed. I said to him "Who are you? You can't be the dark figure from my dream." He simply laughed and responded with a sly smile "Of course I am, don't you remember what you did?"

I thought back _to _what had happened in my dream and looked down at the back of my right wrist - it had the same mark that I had seen in my dream. It was also on the front of the man's left hand. The mark was even more complex than I had remembered it to be, there was a five pointed star in the middle of a circle and another circle around the outside with lines going in towards the star all in a deep purplish black color.

I looked up and said, "Is it true, did I make a contract with you?"

He responded, "Yes you did. My name is Sebastian Michaelis. I am your daemon and you are my new mistress."

* * *

"So just to be clear..." I said, " I was crying out for help and you heard me and came to see if you could help by striking up a contract with me. Right?"

"Yes, you have everything correct so far."

" You asked for my conditions and I said that you were to find a purpose for my life and that I have to fulfill it."

"Yes that is also correct."

"Then once I have done this you will eat my soul."

"Yes..." Sebastian said, "You were a very interesting case because I found you in your dream state and not your _living_ state. Normally I don't meet people there because I don't hear them calling, but I heard you. So, I watched you for awhile deciding what I should do since I had never met someone in there before. However, I decided that I would try my normal approach and that seemed to work."

"So what is this mark?" I questioned.

In reply he stated it plainly like he had done it a thousand times before "It is a symbol of our contract. It helps me to find you if we are separated. The more visible the contract, the stronger the bond between daemon and his master, well mistress in this case."

" What should I do to cover it? Because everyone will asking what it is. "

"There is no getting rid of it completely, but you could cover it with a watch or some bracelets. Although people might find it strange that you are wearing them on your right hand since you are right handed I assume."

"Actually, I will be fine since I have always worn my watch on my right hand since I was a little girl. And yes I am right handed."

"Ok now that is settled what would you like me to do, Mistress?"

**Sebastian POV:**

That day was quite different than any other first day I had with my other masters. She didn't really know where to start in her search for life fulfillment and obviously had contacted me on accident. But, somehow I felt as though she did it on purpose... like she needed saving from something. She had nothing for me to do; like getting her tea or making her food. I ended up spending the whole day acting as her tutor, helping with her homework she had to do. But I was mostly just someone for Amélie to talk to. She seemed very lonely and lost but kind.

Amélie told me that I could make her family's guest room mine, unless they had a person who needed to spend the night. I could then just stay in her room. I told her that daemons do not sleep but she did not care and told me, "I feel that since you probably will be here or at my side for awhile, you deserve a place to call your own. Even if you don't use the bed, you still should have somewhere you can be by yourself."

I found this very odd because only one other person had given me a separate space like this and for the same reason. Ciel Phantomhive. Amélie reminded me of him because of the consideration she had already shown me, just like Ciel had. She had just the same look in her eye that Ciel had when I first met him, lost but still determined to go on and fight for what their wish was, well still was for Amélie.

We made the final seal of our contract with a rose. It was also unlike anything I had seen before. Normally the rose is one solid color, but hers was a deep scarlet and along the edge of each petal was black dripping down into the red. It seemed very odd to me that someone this kind would have black on her rose. The color a rose turns depends on that person's personality and actions in life. Black symbolizes lying and deceiving people. Red is the complete opposite and means trusting and caring. Daemons' roses are always black in this seal because these characteristics are what truly define us. Obviously I did not know everything about this girl.

**Amélie POV:**

I woke to find myself not in my room looking at my familiar white closet doors but on the ground in a forest clearing. I saw Sebastian leaning on a big oak tree watching me very closely. I knew exactly where we were; the forest behind my house on Cheery Street, England. As I started to sit up Sebastian said," I see you have finally woken. I am glad I did not wake you up when I moved you from your bed." I looked up through the leafless tree branches to see if the sun was up yet. Thankfully to my surprise it was still very dark.

Shivering from the cold fall wind I said," Why on earth are we out here?"

"Because Mistress, I thought it would be better for you health to sleep in the wilderness," Sebastian said jokingly.

Staring at him with a look of disgust I said, "Why are we _really_ out here?"

"That is kind of a long story but I guess since its only two a.m. and you don't have to be at school till seven thirty we have the time."

He took a deep breath and let it out as he begun to tell his what had happened earlier that night.

**Sebastian POV:**

"A man opened your window and came in your room. Luckily I was there watching you just to make sure you were sleeping ok since you kept falling out of bed. As soon as he saw me he jumped back out the window. I picked you up and went on the roof to get a better vantage point to see him. I could not have left you there alone. I spotted him running into the forest and I ran after him completely forgetting I had a hold of you. But as soon as I was in the forest he was gone. I ventured in farther but still could not find him; he had just vanished. I decided it would be better to just let you sleep so I found this clearing and waited for you to wake up."

"Why on earth would there be some man in my room who I don't even know?" Amélie said.

"I think he could have been after me, you, or both of us."

"That is quite a scary thought. I wonder how long he has been doing this?"

"I think for a while, since he seemed used to the lock on your window and had it open before I even realized that he was there. But whoever he was I have a feeling he is connected to your nightmares. He could have also been a grim reaper."

"A what!" she exclaimed. "Why on earth would a grim reaper be in my bedroom?"

"To come after me or to end your life. One of them is quite fond of me. I believe his name is Grell Sutcliff. This man looked very similar to him. I think he is the one who was here tonight."

"Merde. My parent are going to be so worried that I am not there when they get up."

"That is taken care of I gave them a note and trust me they will not be worried at all," answering her question. "Parlez vous français?"

"Oui, seulement un peu. I have only been studying it in school two years."

" Well I guess that might come in handy eventually if we ever find ourselves in France. Well its getting light we better get you on your way to school."

"How do you expect to do that? It's thirty minutes by car."

"We run."

**Amélie POV:**

School seemed so weird that day. Sebastian had dropped me off in the alleyway so no one would see me with him and get suspicious. I went in to the classroom and a few minutes later the lesson started. I hadn't really been paying attention to what Mrs. Bard had been teaching, but more to a tugging I felt on my right wrist. It kept hurting more and more until all of sudden it was gone. I looked out the window and saw Sebastian sitting at one of the tables in the café across the street. I realized that the tugging feeling had happened because Sebastian had gone so far away from me. I had not realized until then that the tugging feeling was always there just not so strong as when he got far away. The bell rang and woke me from daze.

I ran across the street to the café to go talk to Sebastian and to get a coffee. Luckily, we were allowed to leave campus for lunch as long as we were back in time for afternoon classes. I sat down next to him and said, "Don't ever leave me again!" People started staring at me because I had said it so loud. Sebastian replied, "I had some chores I needed to do." He took a pause then whispered in my ear, "We can talk about this when we get back to your house."

We got up, not caring that I had not gotten my coffee yet, and left. We walked for about three blocks until we reached the entrance to the forest that was behind my house, and walked in. Sebastian swooped me up into his arms and ran. I had fallen asleep last time so I was not prepared for the rush of cold air against my face as he began to pick up speed. Before I knew it we were back at my house, in the back-yard. I unlocked the door and let us both in. I sat down on the couch by the door and said, "What were you doing?"

Sebastian answered, "I was looking into the attack that had happened last night and to see if there were any other strange activities that had gone on last night." He looked tense, pushing his glasses constantly up on his nose. I knew this must be a dire matter because if he was worried than I had to be even more so. He continued, "I found out that two people were murdered with marks from the same weapon the person who tried to attack you was using." I was so shocked that I jumped up out of the couch and fell on the floor. Sebastian said jokingly, "You really should learn to express your surprise in a less violent manor."

I heard a car pulling up into my driveway and Sebastian ran up to my room. As soon as my mom entered the door, Sebastian was in my room well hidden. She was wearing a grey skirt suit, her favorite; I knew she was about to tell me something bad because that was the only time she would ever wear it. She looked at me and said, "Well I might as well just tell you. We are sending you to boarding school because we feel you will benefit from the extra attention you will get." This was too much for one day so I ran up to my room and slammed the door.

Sebastian came out of his usual hiding place in my closet, and came over to the bed where I fallen onto in my fit of rage. He looked down and stroked my bangs out of my face. He pulled my face up and said, "You are not going to boarding school. I am taking you to find out what happened with these murders." I was so relieved. I realized that boarding school was a perfect cover up; money could be sent to Sebastian for the trip and he could send fake grades back.

* * *

The moon was out, and casting creepy shadows in the backyard like it always did. Sebastian was downstairs making me tea and scones, now that my parents had gone to bed. I opened the book that we were supposed to read for school and flipped through it seeing if it was any good. I realized for once my life was actually more interesting than a fantasy book. I heard the hinges on my door creek and in came Sebastian with a full teapot and a plate of scones. He poured some for the both of us and handed me that plate with the scones. The first time he made me tea I had asked him, " Why do you drink tea and not eat the scones?" He told me, "I worked as a butler a while back in England and I have gotten use to its taste. Daemons are not particularly fond of human food." He stared at me as I took a sip of tea waiting for my approval. I nodded which put a smile on his face. He took the tray away once I was done and I fell asleep instantly.

**Sebastian POV:**

She was asleep when I came back up to say good night. Amélie looked so content as she hugged the blankets that were around her. I could tell she was not having a nightmare and that for once in what had probably been a very long while, she was going to sleep well. I begun packing her stuff to take on the trip. I knew exactly what to take because it had been a week since our contract had been signed and we each knew what each other needed. It was not usually like that, normally it took about a month for my masters to get used to having someone around, but she had already felt a tug when I was far away. I felt it too; it was so strange to be already be so attached to someone when only a week had passed since the signing of our contract. I looked at the end table by her bed and saw the black rose in a vase full of water. Hers was in my coat pocket wrapped in a handkerchief. The sun had come up and it was time for me to go pick up the car that was to take her to the airport.

**Amélie POV:**

I heard the sound of my alarm go off, not used to it since Sebastian had been the one to wake me up usually. I sluggishly got out of bed and threw on the clothes he had laid out for me. Not the sweat pants and t-shirt I had told him to get, but a nice dress with my best gold jewelry I had just gotten for my sixteenth birthday. He had set out hairpins as well, I assumed he wanted to attempt me to do something with my hair even though he knew I was horrible at doing it myself. I went downstairs finding my parents with cups of steaming coffee. They hugged me and said good bye; I could hear the car pulling towards the front of the house and went outside to see Sebastian in the driver's seat. I giggled a little as I got in the car, and my dad gave me a strange look. He would never understand why because I would never see him or my mom again.


	2. Mon Petit Chou: Chapter 1

**AN: Fun fact, I have never actually ridden in first class on an airplane.**** Thanks for sticking with me and reading.**

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**Amélie POV:**

Sebastian dropped me off at the front and told me to wait for him in the lounge area and that someone would help me there. The person at the entrance helped me with my 3 huge suitcases and asked which airline I needed to go to. As I looked down at the ticket I saw that it was not the usual economy class, but first. "How on earth did I get this?!" I said aloud. The man helping me stared and then I realized that I had not told him where I needed to go. I quickly muttered the name and he led me to the check-in desk where there was a tall woman with a flight cap on in a blue tweed skirt suit.

I showed her my ticket and she told me to wait. The man who had helped me get there meanwhile had stuck my luggage on the conveyor belt behind the desk and I watched it disappear behind the wall. The women came back in a frenzy and said "I am sorry we thought you were coming later and would have had your preparations already made. Please accept our apologies." I had no idea what to do except nod and follow her. She led me through the airport bypassing all security checkpoints, just having to show her badge to the officials, and led me into the lounge which had its own entrance to the first class cabin so we could board the plane at our leisure.

I looked over and saw Sebastian sitting on a blue velvet couch and went over to sit by him. "That took a while," he said.

"Well someone did not realize that I was coming this early apparently." In a lower voice I said, "What on earth is going on here?" People had started to look up from their morning papers and coffees as my loud voice carried over the quiet room.

"You will understand as soon as you meet him." That is the only answer I could get out of him. After waiting awhile I noticed Sebastian staring off to one side of the room, where the bar was. "Who are you looking at?"

He raised his eyebrows and said, "He is the one who came in your room. I think he is following us."

"But, why?"

"I'm not sure."

Just as Sebastian was about to get up to confront the man, the fight attendant made an announcement that people should being boarding. Sebastian helped me up from the couch and was dragging me along behind him. I did not want to let go because I could tell that the man was watching us very closely, even though I was facing away from him. Just being near Sebastian made me feel safe, as though some kind of shield was around us that concealed us from anything evil except ourselves.

When we got to the door of the airplane the flight attendant told us to use the stairs at the end of the cabin, and that this mysterious "He" was waiting for us. As soon as I got to the top of the stairs I saw what looked to be a small apartment but without a kitchen and bedrooms. Although I assumed those rooms were behind the two doors near the back of the long room. Instead of the normal rows of airplane recliner seats, there was a dining area, bar, and sitting area with a TV. In one of the chairs by the TV was a teenage boy with dark blond hair who looked to be about the same age as I.

As I started to walk forward Sebastian told me to wait there because he had to talk to him first to explain who I was and what was going on. By this point I had completely given up on trying to guess who this person was and what was going on. Sebastian had to pry my hands off of his tail coat he was wearing to walk over to the boy. I looked down to see my hands shaking. Normally I was not the type of person to get nervous when meeting someone for the first time, but for some reason the air in the room made me feel like I should be.

After a few hushed words I could not understand because they were in French, Sebastian walked over to me and said, "He is ready to meet you. However, I must explain to you what is going on." Sebastian paused because he could see how wide-eyed I was look up at him. In response gave me a reassuring smile and continued on with what he was saying, "I have a job lined up for you... well it is not necessarily you who would have to execute the task, just be the face for the job. You would be taking over his highness' position as head of the Underworld affairs in France. The royal family was never truly gotten rid of because they headed the demonic affairs for the country. The prince's job is to take care of running it, while the king determines what problems need attending to. However, his highness feels he is incompetent in doing this and needs someone with..._more_ experience. So that is where you and I come in, we are to get the commands from the prince and execute them."

All I could think to say was, "How on earth am I supposed to do this I have no idea about any of this stuff let alone how to get rid of the _problems_ ?!"

"I will help at first but I have a feeling you will be able to take over in time. Just do not let him know you are nervous otherwise this opportunity could fall through. Another thing, I feel this will grant you access to figuring out why a reaper would be following you. His Royal Highness said that he would provide you with proper attire for all formal functions and a place to live. You are to get an allowance of €3000 a month to spend as you please. Will this do? Trust me I will help you figure it out as you go."

I spent a few minutes pondering what on earth I would do. Obviously the only reason Sebastian had taken me away here was to get this job. Also he seemed to know a lot about what this job entailed. It would give me a purpose to my life, fulfilling part of my end of the deal and he would be too, so in that sense it benefitted both of us. It also might let me figure out why I had been having nightmares and why all these strange occurrences had been happening. The only thing I did not like was that I would be working for the undercover royal family of France and how it would turn out if they, and also I, were discovered. Well I guess the only decision I could make was to say, "Oui."

The Prince looked over at me and all I could notice were his cold blue eyes that shot icicles through me and almost made me shiver. Then I remembered I had to act as though this did not disturb me and be the total opposite person of who I truly was, confident. I walked over almost tripping on the heels that Sebastian had told me to wear. The Prince picked up my hand and kissed it while saying, "Enchanté, je m'appelle Christophe, et vous?"

"Je m'appelle Amélie" was all I could muster to say before Sebastian started talking in French to Christophe. Of what I could make out he was telling him I did not speak much French and that the papers for the job should be signed. Christophe led me to the bar where the papers and a fountain pen lay. I read them over quickly, making sure they were all that Sebastian had said they would be. Luckily, they were in English so I did not have to spend an hour trying to translate it with my five year old's French vocabulary. I signed my name and Christophe signed his, he called for champagne which surprised me since we were both so young; I guess when you are a prince you can drink even if you are not technically old enough to. I took a glass any way but slyly dumped most of it out into a plant nearby little by little so not to offend his highness by not accepting his congratulations.

* * *

After dinner he went into his room to go to sleep leaving me and Sebastian alone to talk. I started off saying, "How do you expect me to take over from you eventually? I'm not a daemon like you are. Does he know you are a daemon? How much about the underworld does he know about? Have you done this before?" Before I could finish Sebastian cut in saying "Calm down young mistress. And to answer all your questions: One, I will get you a teacher for shooting a gun and have you do little tasks to help with each investigation till you know how to do it by yourself; Two, he does know I am a daemon he could tell by the mark on your wrist and has a natural ability to sense underworld creatures as do all the princes in his family; Three, yes I have done this before, like I said earlier I used to work as a butler, however my master was the head of underworld operations in England during the Victorian era."

"So you have been around _that_ long?"

"Yes. I am very old for a daemon even though we live exceedingly long lives."

"Who is the name of the person you had your contract with?"

"For your sake in case we run into anyone who was associated with him or his family I will not say his first name, however he had the last name of Phantomhive. The less you know about my other contracts the better. Shall I make you some tea?"

"Of course. After a day like this maybe I should have drank the champagne."

Sebastian went off down the stairs to the kitchen of the plane. We were already flying and I had not even noticed. I looked around and found that all the furniture had the French family crest on it and that even the alcohol in the bar bore the same crest of the two lions holding a shield. Sebastian had come up with the tea tray, one cup for each of us and a tea pot with steam just barely escaping the little hole in the lid of the pot. He set it down on the table and fixed a cup just the way he always did for me: two lumps of sugar and a teaspoon of honey. He drank his plain. We sat across from each other making eye contact whenever we looked up to take a sip. It seemed he was pondering something and I did not want to bother him. I had finished my cup without even realizing what tea it was or making any remark of satisfaction which is probably what he was looking for, since he had been a butler. I said to him, "I'm going to bed." In a flat voice he said, "Good job today. You should have gone into acting had you not gotten tied up in this mess." I turned my back to him and shut the door to my room.

As I walked into the room I saw two twin beds with silk comforters and sheets. Both my bags were on luggage stands, opened with my night clothes put out. I changed into them and walked through another door leading into a small powder room. I combed through my wavy brown hair. I realized something that had been going on between me and Sebastian for awhile. I had been using him as a safety net the whole time he had been under contract with me. Never giving him orders, only asking him to do things. He was the one who was always there when I would wake up from one of my nightmares and make sure I was ok. I realized now that would have to change, that I would have to become the one in charge. It was so unlike me to control people and be in such a high power position. But because of the way he acted after today, I could not be the meek girl I was when I came onto this plane who hid behind my daemon. I had to be the one in control. After all it was I who controlled the contract, without me, no soul.

**Sebastian POV:**

I had just finished my cup of tea and was about to go check on Amélie when Christophe came out. He greeted me in French and continued the conversation in it because he did not know how to speak much English. He explained that he was unsure of how well Amélie would do at her job since she did not know of what the job consisted and that he felt she was too weak to handle it. I reassured him that each task would be completed and she would not fail to do it herself. Feeling pleased after I said such praise, because he knew daemons could not lie, Christophe went back into his room. I then cleared the tea and made sure everything was arranged so that Amélie and Christophe could leave the plane without any issues.

I peeked into Amélie's room and saw her asleep with her hair wisps just over her eyes. I came in and put her black flower on the bedside table just like it had been at her home before. It was my job to make her comfortable, if I could not do that much for my young mistress what kind of daemon would I be? I figured from now on I would take up my duty as her butler, just as I had done so before with Ciel. I put my uniform on that I had kept from working in his service. Still in pristine condition, it was the only object I had ever kept as a daemon, things where not important to us. I felt some weird feeling that made me not get rid of it, like the human feeling of attachment. Although you could not really call it that since daemons do not feel human emotions. I put it on and felt like I was me over 100 year ago.

I wondered how Amélie was going to handle having this new life. It was nothing like her suburban life back home; she was moving to a city in a completely different part of the world and having to work with people she could barely understand. She would have to be a quick study, that's the only thing that would work. I guess I would help her as much as possible because the sooner she completed this, the sooner I could have her soul.

Amélie's bedroom door opened around 6 a.m. Paris time. I had her tea and scones waiting just like every morning since I had been under contract with her. She walked out with big circles under her eyes from not sleeping well. Her brown hair was in a huge knot. She sat down quietly and sipped her tea. Then she looked up and said, "Why is there a package in my room? Did you put it there?" I went into her room and saw a package wrapped in tan paper and twine. I picked it up and brought it out for her to open.

She cut open the box and inside was two guns, both of which I recognized. One was a small hand gun just small enough to fit inside a small purse. The other however scared me, it was a daemon gun. It could kill a daemon or any other underworld creature for that matter. Obviously France was having a problem with daemons because the prince would not have given such a tool to just anyone. If shot, a daemon's life would end. However, if any other creature or person was shot with it they would be forever in pain and never reach salvation. Even worse than what happens after a contract with a daemon is completed.

Amélie look up and said, "One of the two worries you I can tell. Why is that?"

"The bigger of the two is a daemon hunting gun, it kills daemons," I responded solemnly. Amélie knew that daemons could not be killed using regular weapons. I had told her that already back before we left on our trip.

She responded, "I won't use it then unless I have to. Also, I will need a teacher so I can learn to shoot. I've never even held a gun."

"I have one already for you. Your first lesson is tomorrow. I met her mother a very long time ago. She worked for the Phantomhives as a maid but more importantly to protect the estate when threatened."

Amélie got up and went back into her room, I assumed to get ready for the day. She had not even noticed what I was wearing. By now I suspected nothing would surprise her. She had changed overnight. Her voice now had a sense of authority, no longer the meek voice she used back home. Something had clicked in her like this was what she was meant to do. She still did not know of the powers of the contract fully though. I wanted to see if she even needed its full help. I pulled out the rose from my inside coat pocket. The rose's veins were also hinting at touches of black now. What was going on with this girl's soul?

**Amélie POV:**

I walked into my room and saw a black v-neck dress on the bed. On the floor where the same nude color stilettos I had been made to wear yesterday. I put on the clothes and just as I finished Sebastian walked in. "You should have knocked, I was changing," I said to protest his poor manners.

"Does it really matter? I know what your soul looks like and that's far more personal."

"Of course it does, just remember to knock from now on. Why are you dressed like that?"

"Oh you finally noticed. Well I feel as though you should have a proper butler since you are going to be associating yourself with the upper class now."

"Wouldn't it make more sense for me to have a _lady's maid_?"

"Not really, no. All that matters is that you have someone to escort you to functions and take care of your house. We're not in the Victorian era anymore."

"Fine but do you really need to be there at the functions? People are going to start calling you my shadow."

"You are a young lady Amélie, people will take advantage of that. On another point, in addition to learning how to use a gun we will need to continue your French studies and add French etiquette to that. You will stick out like a sore thumb in formal functions if you don't learn quickly, you're not the most graceful person."

"Fine. That makes sense," I said in agreement, although I did not like the idea of having to behave like some helpless girl waiting for people to open up doors for her.

The airplane made a few bumps and then the pilot came on saying that we had landed. We drove on the tarmac for awhile but came to a stop before coming to the jetway. Sebastian led me out of the room saying that the car was waiting for us. He had all my luggage and even some of the prince's bags.

I went down the stairs first, every step felt like I was going to fall over because of the shoes I was wearing. Luckily I did not. Sebastian put the luggage in the trunk of what looked to be a black Rolls Royce. He then opened the door and helped me into the car just as any butler would. Next followed the prince with his cold blue eyes looking at me the whole time seeing what faults I would make.

"We...are...going...to...your...apartment. I...will...go...back...to my...home...in the...country. We meet in one week." Christophe managed to say in a heavy French accent. His English was obviously as poor as my French was. I would be the one to learn his language, not the other way around. He is such a spoiled brat I though.

Sebastian had gotten in the car by then in the seat next to the driver, and told him wear to go. The sun looked to be in position of mid afternoon. I was trying not to look over at the prince fearing I would meet his eyes again. Instead I looked at the passing buildings and the rest of the cars. I let myself steal one glance of him and saw he was doing the same. Maybe he was just as nervous as I was.


	3. Mon Petit Chou: Chapter 2

**AN: The apartment sitting area I got from the hotel I stayed in when I visited Paris.**

**Thanks for sticking with story. Hopefully things aren't going too too slowly for you. :)**

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**Amelie POV:**

We drove for what seemed to be 3 hours although it probably was more like half an hour. The car stopped in front of a 5 story building in classic French architecture. It was in a nice part of Paris and looked as though you could see all the major monuments if you were on the top two floors. Sebastian got out and opened my door and helped me out of the car. Just as he finished getting my luggage out, the car sped down the road. Sebastian knocked on the door so the apartment's front desk person could let us in. He then proceeded to the desk and talked in rapid French.

I sat myself down on a chaise longue right by a huge window with dramatic floor to ceiling red curtains. I pulled out the book I had been meaning to read on the plane and read the title, _A Tale of Two Cities_. I had read this book so many times that pages were starting to fall out of it. I let the book open to where it wanted. It was the part where Lucy met Charles Darnay. It always upset me how Lucy had went with him and not gone with Sydney. I felt so bad for everyone in that book.

Sebastian tapped my shoulder and I looked up. He had already gone up to the apartment since he no longer had my luggage. I walked in front of him, as he had told me to do earlier when he told me that proper etiquette stated a mistress should walk in front of her servants but never in front of the men, unless they were below her post. He told me that I ranked just under the prince in class stature because I was his personal assistant for his job. I was to be treated as royalty to those who knew of the royal family's existence.

Sebastian opened the mesh door in front of the elevator and I went inside. He stuck a key in the slot next to the number five and the elevator started going up to the top of the building. I could see through the mesh door that the hallways were lined with gold sconces and had fine white doors with gold accents to match the sconces. The elevator slowed and came to a landing with white double doors at the end of the hall. Sebastian opened the elevator door and then the mesh door letting us into the short hall. He walked in front of me this time but only to unlock the door and let me inside the apartment.

I walked in and was amazed at what I saw. The back wall was lined with floor to ceiling windows with an amazing view of Paris. There was a fireplace, a seating area, and a dining area. I opened up the door to my right and saw a small kitchen with one stove oven combo and a small refrigerator. I opened up the door on my left to find that the room was dark. I flipped on the light switch by the door and saw all my same bedroom furniture and even some new things, because the room was twice as big as my room at home. I looked on my nightstand to find my familiar black rose on it and felt at home. I opened a door by some small widows and found a small walk in closet with all new clothes, though there was nothing there that I would actually want to wear. I figured I would be forced to since my luggage had disappeared along with my clothes inside it.

"Are you pleased, Amélie?" Sebastian said from behind me.

I turned around to find him back in the button down shirt and jeans I was used to seeing him in. "Yes. Why so much though? I don't need anything this size."

"It was the prince's. He had a city apartment for when he needed to do work, but now that you have that job it's yours. I made a few changes so that it would be more to your liking. Also if you have people you are meeting with, just notify me so I can swapthe furniture out and make it an office."

"How can you do that?"

"Really, do you need to ask that question?"

"I guess not."

"Oh, your etiquette tutor will be here soon. She is going to start to teach you proper dining rules."

"Can't **you** just teach me?"

"I could but I figured it would be better if you had some interaction with someone other than myself."

"Fine."

Ding, rang the doorbell about an hour after I had come in. I had settled onto the couch in the living area and continued to read my book. I hear the door open and then a snooty women with a French accent interrupted, "That is not the proper way to sit while reading. Especially when you are expecting guests over. In your house you can see straight from the door to where you are sitting. You will have no preparation time because of this." I could already tell we were going to get along amazingly...NOT. I heard Sebastian's laughs coming from the kitchen.

* * *

Dinner went even worse than our greeting had. Of course Sebastian served as though he where the perfect butler, but I on the other hand could not tell any of the forks apart from each other. The tutor, Madame Devereaux, said I had no chance of making it in high society at all and that I was un-teachable. She left before the meal was over but thanked Sebastian for the meal.

"Well I guess I will have to teach you then," Sebastian said while laughing.

"Not funny. It's not my fault I don't know the difference between knives." At that moment I had been trying to use a butter knife to cut my steak.

"Mon petit chou, that is a butter knife, not the steak knife."

"ARRRRGGG! I give up." I flipped my plate over and sent it towards Sebastian where he then proceeded to catch it before it landed on the floor and broke.

"She was not a very patient woman. I think she did not realize that you had absolutely no knowledge of etiquette."

"Did you not tell her?"

"I may have forgotten to," he said with a big smile on his face.

"Fine. If you want me to make a big fool out of myself that's ok with me. I'm not the one who will be failing my part of the contract." Before Sebastian could say any more I ran into my room and collapsed on my bed crying. The day's events had just been too overwhelming.

**Sebastian POV:**

I slowly opened her door. The lights were off but the glow of the setting sun was coming through the window making everything in the room a blood red. She was asleep on her bed, still in the clothes she had been wearing at dinner. I took those off and put her in her night clothes. After that I put her back into bed and closed the door behind me.

"Wait, stay," I hear her small voice that I was used to, not her commanding voice which she had been trying to keep up all day.

"What's wrong? I though you were mad at me," I said, raising an eyebrow trying to seem concerned. I walked back in seeing her sitting up in her bed.

"Not really. I was more angry at myself than you. I'm not this kind of person." Amélie answered.

"No you're not, but you will have to learn to be. As long as I'm the only one around I don't care if you act as you please, but if we're out or around the other royals you will need to be. If you don't they will take advantage of you and we will not get any of the information you really want to know."

"I can deal with that. Sebastian you never got me my tea for tonight."

"I thought you were asleep. I will go prepare it now."

I walked into the kitchen and made the tea just like she liked it: two sugars with a spoon full of honey. When I came back in her room she was sitting in the chair at the end of her bed reading the same book she had been reading earlier. I set the tea down on the table.

"Thank you."

"You don't need to thank me I'm just your butler."

"Yes I do. To me you still deserve common courtesy like anyone. As long as no one else is around I will treat you the same I did before we came here."

"Ok...I guess that's fine. Will you need anything else tonight or shall I let you retire?"

"Yes I do. Stop being so formal when it's just us. You've acted like that since I met you it's not normal and makes me uncomfortable."

"Is that an order or can I continue because this is the way I normally act when around my master, rather my mistress."

"Yes."

"Then you must say 'Sebastian I order you to' and say whatever you absolutely want me to do."

"And you will just follow that order not matter what?"

"Yes it's part of the contract. So, do you wish for me to act more casually when just around you?"

"That's dictatorship! No act how you want, it just seems weird to me."

"Ok, well for future use just remember those words," I said. As I left the room, I heard her climb into bed and turn off the light. "Bonne nuit, Amélie," I whispered.

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**AN: Thanks for reading. Please review. :)**


	4. Mon Petit Chou: Chapter 3

**AN: Fun fact #3 Most of the plot came to me in dreams. Meaning: they where not specifically black butler related dreams but that I went on an adventure in Paris, learned how to shoot a gun and met a member of the royal french family.  
**

**Thanks for reading. And thank you Alexma for the review.**

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**Amélie POV:**

I awoke to see the same man with red hair and glasses that I had been dreaming about in my room. All I could think to do was take out the gun which Sebastian had put under my pillow and shoot. Even before I could shoot, he had a handkerchief up to my face with something weird smelling on it. Before I passed out I saw Sebastian open the door and grab the man. His eyes were a pinkish red and black raven feathers where trailing behind him. Then, everything went black.

* * *

I woke up to find Sebastian by my side and the red haired man gone. His face had a look of relief on it when he realized that my eyes were open.

"How are you feeling?"

"A little dizzy." The shakiness of my voice surprised me.

"Do you want some more tea?"

"No, I think I will be ok. What happened?"

"The reaper came back."

"What's a reaper?"

"Reapers decide whether you live or die. They look at your cinematic record, well you life events, right before they kill you to see if you should continue living or not. That's where the phrase life flashes before your eyes come from."

"Ok. I assume they are part of the underworld."

"Yes however, this one is should not be bothering you; now that you are under a contract they cannot touch you even if you are supposed to die. That's a common rule, every reaper knows that. This specific reaper has a tendency to do things that he's not supposed to do. I think I may have to make a trip to the reaper head quarters."

"Will you go tomorrow?"

"I will go as soon as you fall asleep."

"Ok, just make sure you come back before I wake up."

"I promise," he said as he turned out the light and walked through the door.

"Wait!" I shouted as loud as could.

"What is the matter?"

"Why were your eyes a different color?"

"I was going into my true demon form. It's a good thing you passed out before you could see what I really look like."

"Are you a raven?"

"Not entirely. I will not say anything more on the matter. Not even if you command me."

"You don't have to worry about that, I already told you I won't make you do anything you don't want to."

"Good night, Amélie" he whispered as he shut the door.

I fell asleep as soon as I heard his footsteps disappear.

**Sebastian POV**

I got to the headquarters of the Reapers just as the sun was rising. I knew I had about 3 hours before I had to be back to get Amélie up for her lessons. The building was a grey white with Grecian architecture. I entered the double doors only to find Grell at the front desk. I wanted to lunge at him because of what he had been doing to Amélie.

"Oh Batty you came. I was wondering when you would show up," Grell said while winking an eye at me.

"Why are you working the front desk?" I said, ignoring his flirting. "You normally work out on the field."

"Well... I got reassigned because of getting involved with your girl's case."

"Serves you right. You know you can't touch people under contract. We dealt with this awhile ago. Remember?"

"Yes well, that was a long time ago. I haven't seen you in ages Batty."

"Why where you bothering Amélie?"

"She's been on the to die list since she was born. We haven't been able to kill her."

"Hmm that's interesting. Has the undertaker investigated this case all? I know he usually deals with the hard to kill people."

"Yeah he has. Even tried to use the bookmark and write in her death. That didn't work. The bookmark shot out of her book and locked itself up. No one can touch it."

"That is weird, normally even the undertaker can change contract members' books."  
"He was very perplexed with this case so he's been studying her book."

"If that's all, please stop bothering me. You scare my mistress."

"But Batty I miss you."

"You can bother me, just not my mistress."

"It was the only way to get your attention. I'd been following you for awhile."

"I know, I just ignored you."

"BATTY!"

"Bye Grell, I need to leave."

* * *

I walked back through the front door and saw Amélie in the kitchen making herself tea. She was still in her pajamas but had her hair up in a pony-tail with one big curler at the end. "Amélie your kettle," I said after I realized the whistle was going off.

She turned around and gave me a big smile. She took the kettle off while humming the tune to something I didn't know. She poured it into the tea pot and shut the lid. "I can get that, you go sit down." I gestured towards the tea and scones on the tray.

"I can do this myself, I'm not a princess. Do you want some, it's earl grey?"

"Sure"

**Amélie POV:**

I brought the tea into the dining area and set the tray down on the table. I poured a cup for Sebastian first and then one for me. When I looked up Sebastian's eyes met mine. They were not the same brown color they normally were, but the pink red color they had been back when the red haired man was in my room. He continued staring at me like a predator looks at its prey right before they are about to pounce.

"Why aren't you talking?" I said, trying to break his gaze.

"You are my mistress, you need to speak to me first before I can talk to you. It's only proper."

I slammed my tea cup down causing my saucer to break. I couldn't take his attitude any logner; I shouted, "Why are you acting like this? First you act like you're my parent, then you act like my manager, and now you're acting like my servant. Decide who you want to be in my life!" He said nothing for a few seconds, stunned at what I had said to him. Sebastian then got up calmly and walked out the door.

I got up so fast I knocked my chair over and then ran through the double doors to try to catch him. As soon as I got out in the hall Sebastian was nowhere to be seen. I did however, see a small note attached to the screen for the elevator. It said in Sebastian's neat cursive: _I will come back when you have decided that you will not act like a child. _This just made me even angrier, so I ripped up the note and started to scream. A few seconds later I heard someone coming up the emergency stairs. I took out my gun from the back pocket in my shorts and pointed it at the door. Even if I didn't really know how to use it I would certainly look threatening, I hoped.

The door opened and I saw it was the concierge who worked downstairs. I dropped my gun and ran into his arms crying. He then picked me up and set me on the couch in the living room. Everything was blurry from the tears in my eyes. All I could hear was the man asking if I was ok and what had happened. I truly did not know how to answer, but his questions for some reason made me stop crying. I looked up and said "My butler left me," then began crying again.

I heard the door open and saw Sebastian's shadow on the wall opposite the door. He told the man to go away and that he would talk to me. From that point on I don't really remember what he said to me, but it made me feel better and more calm. It must be something daemons can do to calm there masters, well whatever it was, it helped.

I looked up at Sebastian's face and saw a worried look. He had my small gun in his hand and was holding it just far enough away so I could not reach it. "Why? Why did you leave?" I said while wiping tears away from my eyes.

"Because this was a much better result than having a tea pot thrown at my head. You need to learn how to control yourself."

"You need to learn not to make me upset. All you had to do was answer my question."

"No...you wanted more than that."

"I did not want any such thing."

"I wasn't meaning _that_, you crave attention. It's because you never had it back home. You want someone who will care for you no matter what."

"Maybe that's true, but isn't it part of your job to make me happy?"

"That was never part of our contract. Daemons are no replacement for real people. We understand human feelings but don't experience them ourselves."

"Hrmf."

"Well go get dressed, your shooting teacher will be here soon, don't want to be having a hissy fit while doing that, now do you?"

"No, you never answered my question."

"I will be whoever you need or command me to be. I will be your butler when needed to teach you things and be your escort to formal functions. I will be your manager to help you organize your job. But no, I will never be your parent, you still have yours and I will not replace them unless it's necessary."

"Fine I'll go get ready."

* * *

While in my room getting ready I heard the door open and someone walking in. I put my ear to the door to hear what was going on. I heard Sebastian say, "Monica-Rin so glad you decided to show up." Then, in a deep woman's voice with an English accent, "I'm only doing this since my family has been tied to you since Mey-Rin worked for you and the Phantomhives."

_Again with the Phantomhives, were they really that important? _I opened the door and saw whose voice it was. Monica was a tall red haired woman. She wore big round nerdy glasses with jeans and a tee-shirt. Monica looked over at me and pointed, "Is this her?"

Sebastian answered, "Oh Amélie, yes she's the one you need to teach."

"Doesn't look like she could even handle the kick back of her tiny gun."

"She will do just fine. The roof stairs are just down the hall , right by the elevator. I have everything set up as you told me to."

"Fine, Amélie was it? Come, we haven't got all day."

Sebastian and I followed her as she went back out into the hall. Once I got to the top of the stairs and looked out I saw two targets, one a bull's eye and the other a black paper with the shape of a human marked out like the ones the police use. Monica set the guns on a table that was about 10 feet away from the targets. She took the small gun out and then took off her glasses.

She aimed and then shot three rounds off. Even from where I was standing I could see that every shot had been a bull's eye. "Now your turn," she said, holding out the gun for me to pick up. It was heavy, but not so heavy that I could not hold my arm out to shoot.

"Ok hold your hand like this," Monica said as she positioned my had around the gun. "See that little notch in the top, use that to aim. Point that at where you want the bullet to go, although depending on the wind the bullet might go in a different direction so you have to learn to account for that."

I help my arm up to get ready to shoot. I was about to pull the trigger but then stopped. I realized that my hair was blowing towards the left, so I aimed a little to the right. Pow. I took a few steps back not being prepared for the rebound. I had thought it would be a lot less. Even though it was a small gun it was very powerful. I looked over and saw that Sebastian was smiling and Monica's jaw was wide open. I had hit the bull's eye.

"Ok now try to hit the human target, mind you they won't always be as stationary as this or even look like this, especially in your line of work. Try to aim for somewhere on the torso so you have a bigger area, although since you seen to be a natural you might as well try to hit the head."

I lined the gun up for a shot right between the eyes and took a deep breath. Pow. This time I didn't move a step from the kick back. I looked up at the paper and saw I had hit my target. I set the gun on the table and said, "Are we don't for today?"

"For today, yes. I will come once a week just to make sure you keep your skills up. Have you ever shot a gun?" Monica asked.

"Not unless you count today," I said with a smirk on my face.

* * *

As I was eating lunch Sebastian came in with a letter and set it on the table. I opened it up and it read: _You are invited to join me and the rest of the noble family for dinner. A car will come by at 6 p.m. Please wear the dress I picked out for you._

_ - Christophe_

"Are you going to go?" Sebastian said.

"I guess, it seemed more like a command rather than a 'Do you want to go' kind of thing."

"I put the dress and things in your room. I think we can fit an etiquette lesson in before you have to start to get ready."

"Really? I was hoping we were done with those."

"Unless you want to be treated as a social outcast, you might want to spend some time practicing."

"Fine, we can leave off where we stopped at dinner the other day. You said for me it was probably best if I waited till the person next to me started eating so I could just see what utensil they used, right?"

"Yes, since we do not have time on our side I think that is the best course to take. Also, you will probably be next to the prince since he will be your escort for tonight. I will also be there, even if you don't see me."

"Ok, is that all?"

"One more thing, try not to trip, it's not lady like. I think we can start getting you ready."

Sebastian took everything off the table: silverware, plates, serving dishes, and glass ware all in one swoop of his hands. It must be a daemon butler thing. He took the huge stack and tossed it all into the kitchen and said, "Shall we begin?"

I took his hand to help me out of the chair. Sebastian had been trying to act as any butler would during meals since I had had my little episode. He led me into my closet where I saw the garment bag hanging on one of the drawer handles. As Sebastian unzipped the bag I saw a black dress with a rather short skirt. The fabric looked like silk on the top and underneath the skirt were a few layers of tulle to make it poof out some. On a shelf next to the dress there was a pair of super high black stilettos, which I knew I would hardly be able to walk in, and a small tiara which looked to be made out of gold and diamonds. I did not want to know how much that had cost.

"I think you should wear a capelet and gloves since it's supposed to be cloudy tonight," Sebastian said without even asking my opinion on the outfit.

"Leave so I can put this on."

After Sebastian walked out I stared at the dress for a good few minutes deciding what I would do. Should I find something else, or should I just go ahead and wear it so the prince and Sebastian wouldn't get angry. As I felt the dress brush my skin when I put it on, I knew instantly I could have probably bought a house with how much it had cost. I put black tights on thinking I would not feel so exposed but it just made the outfit even more provocative. "Ok you can come in now," I said.

"Well let's see what we can do with your hair," Sebastian said as he pointed to a seat in front of a mirror.

He pulled my hair up into a bun so tight that I could barely move my face. The pins jabbed into my scalp and hurt even more as new pins were added. The final touch was to shove the little tiara into the bun making it feel like a sword had just been stuck into my head. I never truly understood the meaning of beauty is pain until this. After he was done, Sebastian put some make up on me.

First was my eyes, he used dark grey eye shadow and pushed so hard on my eyelids it made then water. He then decided I needed mascara and brushed it all over my eyelashes until they looked like a doll's. For the finishing touch dark red lipstick. When Sebastian stepped away I could barely recognize myself. I, who was never really interested in girly things, had never even worn makeup.

There was a knock on the door. "I will go get it. Your cape and gloves are on the end table in your room," Sebastian said. I walked out of my closet and put on the cape and gloves. Out through the window I could barely make out a few snow flurries falling in the winter night sky.

"Amélie!" Sebastian called.

"Coming!" I answered. I was really dreading what was going to happen at the party.


	5. Mon Petit Chou: Chapter 4

**AN: Fun fact #4 I love having dinner parties so of course I had to put on in the story.**

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**Amélie**

I stepped out from the front door of the building and felt the cold winter air brushing at my face. Snow was starting to pile up on the sidewalks and roads. I looked out onto the street and saw Christophe in a tux holding the door open of the same car I had rode in to get to the apartment.

"You...look very nice." he said. I think he had been practicing since he was able to say the words with out as many pauses.

As I stepped in the car, he gave me his hand to help me in instead of making Sebastian do it. Sebastian climbed in the front seat next to the driver and Christophe went in the seat next to mine. It took about an hour to get out of the city since some of the roads were closed due to the snow. Once we where, I saw that it had been snowing even more out in the country side; you could not even see a hint of grass, everything had a blanket of snow on it. A few minutes later after getting to the top of a small hill, I could just make out a stately manor in the distance.

"That is the house there." said Christophe while pointing.

As the car got closer I saw the house, rather the palace; it looked very similar to Versailles except smaller. It had the same gates and the same old French architecture of that time period. The driveway had been cleared of snow and so had the rest of the palace. All the windows where lit up with the warm glow of candles. I could see a big Christmas tree through the huge windows on one side of the house. I hadn't even realized it was almost Christmas, so much time had passed.

Once the car stopped Christophe got out and offered me his hand. I was about to take it when Sebastian said, "Wait, I need to talk to her alone for a few minutes." Both the driver and Christophe left and went inside the manor. Sebastian took out a small purse from his coat pocket and said, "I think you might want this."

I took the purse from him and almost dropped in because I was not expecting it to be so heavy.

"What's in here?" I said

"Your gun. Remember, even if you can't see me I'm always there, so do not be scared."  
"I'm not."

* * *

Dinner had gone as smoothly as I had hoped it could have. Although the chef who had made it probably would get fired tonight after how the king had commented on the food. Luckily, I was on the opposite end of the table from him but still next to Christophe. I guess the king had some one more important to talk to than myself. The person who was sitting next to the king looked an awful lot like Sebastian, but he was wearing glasses and not in a butler's uniform. His hair was also the same color as Sebastian's, but was shorter and more out of his face.

During dinner Christophe tried his best to explain things about the people there to me in English, but just ended up talking in French to me. No one except him even made eye contact with me; Christophe said it was because he and I were high up on the social ladder that it was rude to make eye contact and or start a conversation with either us without being spoken to first. After all he was the prince.

After dinner, everyone went into the drawing room for coffee and tea. I sat by a big window on a small couch with Christophe. Most of the time he was just chatting away in French, so I had no idea what he was saying. I was scanning the room looking for places Sebastian could be hiding. There was a couch in the middle of the room facing two chairs. The king and a few other people, including the man in the glasses, where sipping tea and talking very quietly. On the other side of the room was the queen and two other women who would whisper to each other and then begin laughing. By the door to the room was a butler to take care of filling cups and taking them away, but not _my _butler.

I got up from the couch and felt something tug at my hand. I had not realized that Christophe had been holding on to my hand the whole time we had been sitting there. That is what the queen and her friends must have been laughing about. Christophe was trying to get my _attention_, but failing miserably. I walked away and went out the door. I needed to get away from the stuffiness of everyone being so prim and proper. Sebastian came out from behind a column and said, "Are you ready to leave."

"No." I responded."Just need some fresh air."

"Why don't we walk in the gardens for awhile. I have your cape and gloves right here."

I put them on. Just as we were walking away Christophe came out of the room. "Wait, I...I want to come." he said.

I looked up at Sebastian with questioning eyes. I felt like something was going to happen and did not want him around. Sebastian nodded understanding what I was thinking.

"Go back in, you shouldn't be around right now." I said to him

"I...I want...to be... around you." Christophe said in response.

"I know, but it's just not safe right now. Go back inside."

Sebastian looked over at the window and ran in front of both of us. A man in all red came crashing through sending glass everywhere and yelled, "BASSIE!". I realized it was the same man that had been in my room that one night, Grell. I took out my gun and shot at him. I missed, he was moving too fast.

"Bassie, who is this? It can't be the same little mouse that I saw awhile ago." He said.

"Grell, leave." Sebastian said.

I looked over and saw Sebastian eyes where that pink red color again.

"Christophe go. Now!" I said looking over at his terrified face. I now understood why he couldn't do his job before. He ran back to the door, but before opening it he stayed to watch me do my work.

I looked back over at Grell and saw him still on the floor with Sebastian holding a silverware knife to his throat. I walked over to them and pointed it right in-between Grell's eyes. I heard the drawing room door open and close quickly; Christophe must have gone back inside.

"Battie, what did you do to this girl?" He said

"Nothing." I said and pulled the trigger.

The shot did not kill him even though it should have; he was just knocked out. I got up from my position and looked over, Sebastian's eyes where back to normal but his eyebrows where furrowed. "Come Amélie, let's go." Sebastian said. "Before he wakes up."

"I think I should go back in and at least say good bye and thank them for the dinner." I said

"Fine, go back in, stay for all I care." Sebastian said hotly

"Are you getting jealous that Christophe is spending time with me?"

"No, I just don't think you fit in here."

"I don't, but I have to. These are the people who I will be working with so I have to get to know them better. Can you take care of getting rid of Grell?"

"Yes. Do you want me to?" Sebastian said

"Why would I have I asked." I said sounding very cross.

"Just wanted to make sure I was not getting the polite Amélie."

"Hrmf."

I walked away from him and let the gun fall from my hands. I pushed the door to the drawing room open, which put Sebastian and that other world in the shadows again. I saw Christophe on the couch that we had been sitting on earlier and sat down next to him. I took his hand, the coldness of it sent shivers down my spine. "Are you ok?" I said, trying to make him feel better. He shook his head no so I gave him a kiss on the cheek. He blushed and giggled a little bit. "How about now?" His mother had by then looked over at us.

"I am better now. I am sorry I ever doubted you." Christophe said.

"Don't worry, I wasn't even really sure what I was doing. I guess... I just used my instincts." I said.

"How...err...did you make a... contract with him?"

" With Sebastian I'm assuming. Well, it's kind of a long story."

"Oh. Maybe you can tell me over lunch some time. I know of a little cafe by the Seine."

"Don't push your luck, but I might just take you up on that offer." I said. Right after Christophe had finished asking me out to lunch I had seen Sebastian slip into the room and replace the other Butler. "I think I better get going."

"I have some letters of jobs you may want to look into." Christophe said handing me a pile of tied up letters.

"Even more reason for me to leave then, good night." I said and gave him a kiss on the lips this time. I walked through the door and grabbed Sebastian by his coattails getting him to follow me.

"No need to be so aggressive. I would have followed." Sebastian said while walking behind me.

"I just wanted to make sure you would come. You seemed kind of distracted."

"I'm surprised you even noticed me come in at all, **_you_** where the one who seemed distracted Amélie."

"Just because I'm talking to someone does not mean I'm not paying attention to other people in the room."

"I will go get the car. Oh, but before I go, here is your gun...you dropped it."

"I know. I did that so you would have to pick it up, isn't that what a butler is for." I said in the same tone I had been keeping with him this whole evening. In response Sebastian glared at me. He grabbed me a pulled me up towards his moth; which was quite far since he was much taller than I, even when I was in heels.

"Amélie, stop it. You're not this kind of person." he said and then set me back down . He ran ahead to go get the car ready.

I didn't know what do to except to keep walking. It was late, and I was tired. All I could do was chalk up my actions to the alcohol I had had with dinner and the adrenaline from the fight with Grell. I guess I could also say it was because I had been angry at Sebastian for leaving or just for some reason wanted him to be jealous of Christophe spending time with me.

As I walked out the front door, the cold air made me lose my breath. Even my mink lined cape wasn't enough to keep warmth in. Sebastian was at the car holding the door open for me. Just as he had done before, he gave me his hand and closed the door after I was settled. This time however, he got in the back seat with me. The driver started the car and we zoomed off.

"Amélie, don't act like your someone else." Sebastian said in a whisper just loud enough for me to hear him.

"That's all you've been asking me to do this whole time." I said as I sobbed into his chest hugging him.

"I guess, but don't lose who you truly are in this madness."

I looked up at him and nodded my head, then went back to hugging him. I guess I still had some of that girl I had left back home, the old Amélie Brooks.


	6. Mon Petit Chou: Chapter 5

**AN: So this chapter is sort of sad, if you didn't already get that from the title.**

**Thanks for reading. Oh and I want to give a big thanks to Apollo for you review, when I saw it in my in inbox it made my day.**

* * *

**Amélie POV:**

Sebastian and I got back to the apartment around three a.m. Once we got inside Sebastian told me to go take a bath and that after I was done he would have my tea ready. I walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind me. I stripped off the heavy black dress and tights. I was about to turn the water on when I saw it was already full. It was the perfect temperature. I sat in the tub for a few minutes just letting the hot water relax me. I washed myself and then got out. I put the warm fuzzy robe on that was hanging off the door and walked out of the bath room.

Sebastian was sitting on one of the chairs at the end of my bed with _Tale of Two Cities_ in his hands. "I didn't think that book would interest you." I said.

He looked at me and his glasses slid down his nose. "I figured I would see what you had been reading. The plot is pretty interesting, although the characters keep making the wrong decisions."

I laughed and said, "That's the point of the book, it's suppose to be frustrating. Is that my tea there?"

"Yes, I made peppermint tea. Tomorrow is Christmas day you know."

"I should call my parents then."

"You can do that tomorrow. Its late you should go to sleep once you finish your tea."

"Ok fine, but help me remember to call them tomorrow."

"I will."

"Thanks Sebastian." I said as a took my last sip of tea.

I climbed into my bed and turned out the light. I heard Sebastian walk out the door and close it behind him.

**Sebastian POV:**

I picked up the phone and dialed Amélie's home phone number. It rang a few times and then went to the message, "The number you have reached is either unavailable or disconnected please try another number.". I was sure that I had dialed the right number, but just to be sure I dialed it again. Same thing happened. I turned on the T.V. and saw that there had been a massive fire that destroyed all of Amélie's old neighborhood. A list of people who had died popped up on the screen and both Amélie's parents where on it. This was not going to be a happy Christmas for her.

I went out onto the streets to try to think of a way of telling her what happened. I needed to know more about what had caused the explosion and why there. It could have been something as simple as one accidental spark. I hadn't realized I had walked been walking for so long; the sun had begun to change night to day. The sky was cloudy with small pieces of snow falling, but not as much as it had been last night. I guess I would just have to tell her what happened. Her and Ciel where becoming even more alike. I knew now what she would want to do with her life, get revenge on the people who had killed her parents.

**Amélie POV:**

I woke to see a silver tray of scones and tea on my vintage bedside table. I knew the tea was pepper mint even before I took my first sip because of the smell that had filled my room. I looked at the scone and saw that Sebastian had crushed candy canes and sprinkled the powder on them. I bit into the scone and took a sip of tea; I don't think there could have been a better combination to get me into the Christmas mood.

I took my robe out from the bathroom and put it on, I felt like staying in my pajamas since that was one of my families traditions to do on Christmas day. We would always sit by the tree in our pajamas and open presents while listening to Christmas carols. This year I knew I would not have that. I hadn't even had time to decorate.

I walked sleepily out of my room and to my surprise Sebastian had decorated the whole apartment with purple and silver decorations. There was even a tree by the fireplace. Sebastian walked out the kitchen still wearing his white apron and said, "Merry Christmas Amélie. I have a present for you."

"You shouldn't have, even this is enough." I said motioning to the decorations.

"I figured since you where away from home you would still want to feel like you where at home."

"Thank you so much." I said.

I ran up to Sebastian and gave him a hug. He led me over to the couch and sat a box tied in the same deep purple and silver down on the coffee table. Along with the box where silver plate fulls of cookies and other small deserts. "You must have been up all night baking this." I said.

"No, it didn't take that long." Sebastian said winking. "Open your present."

I picked up the box and I heard a faint sound come out of it, but could not make it out. I took the big purple bow off and tore the silver wrapping paper. Inside was a brown box with wholes on the sides. "Meow." said the box. I lifted the top off and saw a white rag doll kitten inside.

"Do you like it?"

"How could I not like it. Rag dolls are my favorite type of cat."

Although the way Sebastian had begun to act since I took the cat out I sensed that he liked the cat even more than I did. I took the cat out of the box and set it on my lap. It had a little purple color on it with a bell.

"What are you going to name it?"

"Bell, because it's the sounds you hear on Christmas and she is wearing one."

Bell looked over the couch and jumped off my lap. She then began playing with shadows on the floor that where created by the steady stream of snow falling outside the window.

"Amélie, I have some terrible news that I found out last night."

"What is it?" I was concerned by the look on Sebastian face and the tone he had used.

"I do not know how to put this but... your parents... they died in a fire last night. It was on the news."

"What?!" I screamed. "No, that can't be right. How?"

"I'm not sure of who did it, but the news said was that there was a fire and they knew it had been started on purpose."

"No, I can't deal with this." I said sobbing.

"I am truly sorry about what happened. I thought it would be better if you found out sooner than later."

I ran in to my room and shut the door behind me. I jumped on to my bed and cried out until I lost my voice. Tears continued to fall from my eyes, until I got so tired and my eyes hurt so much that I closed them and fell asleep.

* * *

_Clouds where beginning to fall around me in a dark black sky. I was dressed in a black harajuku style dress with flats with figure-less net gloves with my contract visible on my right wrist. Sebastian was on another group of clouds sipping tea made out of clouds while sitting at a cloud table on a cloud chair. A staircase appeared before me it went down to the next layer of clouds. I walked down the clouds and with each step I took the previous stairs step would disappears. I hopped off the stairs and found myself still on clouds but these where orange and red. Black smoke was rising from below them and I could faintly see flames rising down below._

_ I looked behind me, up at the higher level of clouds and saw bell chasing a cloud mouse with Sebastian going gaga over her. More stairs appeared off of this level, however they were made of black smoke. I climbed down these stairs and saw that I had reached what looked to be like my house. Flames where bursting out of the top and the windows, but something told me it was ok to go inside. I opened the door and flames shot out at me; I didn't feel a thing so I just walked through them. I found my mother and father passed out in the living room; decorated like it always was a Christmas time. I leaned over and gave them each a kiss with a tearful good bye. Just then, I saw a man in a suit walk out through the front door. I chased after him finding nothing but a smoke filled street._

* * *

I woke up panting as though I had actually been running and doing the things in my dream. There was shadows of dusk coming through the window onto the wall across from my bed. I walked out my room and saw Sebastian asleep on the couch. Bell was playing with the moving shadows of his feet on the floor. I picked her up causing her to say "Meow". Sebastian slowly opened his eyes and yawned.

"Have a good nap?"

"Yes, although I would have rather been spending time with you. How are you doing?"

"Better. I had a dream where I said good bye to my parents, so I have some consolation that they actually heard me say good bye."

"That's good. Anything else happen in your dream?"

"Right before I woke up I saw a man wearing a very similar tail coat to yours and even looked like you. I knew it wasn't you though, there was just...something different about him."

"Hmm. I wonder who it could have been, maybe the person who set the fire?"

"I think that's who it was. I have a feeling that this was one of those dreams where your subconscious is trying to tell you something."

"We should explore this more later. Have you had a chance to look at the letters his highness gave you?"

"No, not with all this going on. Do you have them on you?"

"Yes." he pulled them out of his shirt pocket and gave them to me. "Your room is your office now so go ahead and go work in there. What time would you like to have dinner served?"

"Soon, I haven't eaten anything today."

I opened up my bedroom door and found a small office there now. In the center of the room was a big white desk and a computer on the top. Bookcases lined the walls that where in the same white. Two purple armed chairs where in front of the desk and a matching office chair was behind it. I sat down a opened the first letter on the stack, there was no return address on it or any other postage markings . It wrote:

Dear Amélie,

By now you have found out that your parents have died in a fire, that was my doing. You can thank your butler for that. This is nothing personal against you, well I guess it is since you are involved with Sebastian. If you wish to have your parents come back, just dream exactly what you did to contact Sebastian.

- C

"Sebastian!" I ran out of the office holding the letter in my hand.

"What is it?"

"Read it. Read what is says."

He skimmed the letter, with his eyes becoming more angry with every word he read.

"Do you know who wrote this?" I said.

"I have an idea of who it could be."

"Out with it then!"

"I few years ago, well more like a couple of centuries ago I met a daemon named Claude. I have a feeling he is angry with what I did back then and just hasn't had the right time to get me back. So now that I am under contract again he decided it would be a good idea to get me back."

"But, why go after me?"

"Claude has a way of making it so he seems to be going after you but is really going after someone else."

"Sebastian...I don't like this."

He looked at Bell and then at me. "I don't like it either. Its particularly unnerving that he knew who to contact to get this note to you. Although, that might mean he still does not know where your are."

"First the red head reaper and now another daemon butler. I don't know how many stalkers I can take."

"Their not really after you, they are using you to get to me."

"Oh, and that's suppose to make me feel better."

"I hoped it would." he said smiling.

"I'll let you get back to cooking. I will be in the office if you need me."

I walked out of the room and went back into the office. I undid the next letter. This was in exactly the same hand writing as the other one and said:

I know where you live: apartment 5 on Rue du Roi de Sicile. I hope you have a nice day.

- C

The next letter was the from Claude also and said:

I hope your Christmas is well. Did you like the cat Sebastian gave you? What did you name it? I know you like cats but Sebastian just got it for himself.

-C

I continued opening the rest of the letters each getting more and more in-depth about what I had been doing over the past couple of weeks. I didn't even want to look at the last one on the pile, but I figured since I had read the rest of them I might as well just finish it. I tore open the envelope; this one was different the paper inside was ivory instead of a crisp white like the others had been. It said:

Dear Amélie,

I hope you are having a wonderful Christmas and like the present Sebastian and I got you. He had no idea what to get you but I figured that since you seemed so independent that you and a cat would work well together. Also, about our lunch, please call me so we can schedule something. Thank you so much for excepting my invitation.

- Christophe

P.S. You inspired me to practice writing and talking in English. Merci

I didn't show Sebastian any of the other letters, he had already looked worried as it was. I put my hand in my head and started to cry. Why had I gotten dragged into this? Why had my parents have to die? My tears fell onto all the letter causing them to become just one big pile of black ink and soggy parchment. There was a knock on the door and Sebastian came in

"Dinner is ready Amélie." he said before he had seen me crying.

He walked over and put his hand on my shoulder. I went to look up at him, and even more tears started to stream down my face.

"Why? Why did my parents have to get involved with this? It's not faire. Do Daemons have no hearts? Well that was a silly question. Sebastian do you feel anything? Do you really ever _feel_ anything. Do you know what love is? It's the eternal bond between people. And you know what that thing did? He tore it up into shreds. Tinny little mangled shreds. My parents where the last in thing I had to hold onto of my life before all this crap started! Why?"

I looked down at me and picked me up in his arms while hugging me. I cried probably even harder than I had cried earlier. "Sebastian?" I said whimpering as my tears began to slow.

"Yes, Amélie."

"You must promise me that I will get revenge on the person who did this." I said with my voice going back to its normal self.

"Is that an order?"

"That's an order."

He set me down on the floor and went down on one knee, "I promise I will help you get revenge on whoever did this to your parents. Now would you like to have your dinner?"


	7. Mon Petit Chou: Chapter 6

**Amélie**

I walked out of my room sleepily. I tried to get to the kitchen but found myself tripping over my own feet, still not quite awake..

"Oh, good morning Amélie. I see you are looking very peppy today."

"Is my tea ready?" I said while sitting down on the floor so I would not fall down.

"Yes, go sit down at the table, I will bring it out to you. On second though here let me help you up and walk you over."

"I don't like the mornings."

"I know, I was surprised you wear out of bed before noon."

"What time is it?"

" Nine thirty."

"To early." I sad and banged my head on to the table

"Oh Amélie."

Next thing I knew Sebastian was setting a cup of tea down and wakening me up again.

"Remind me, why did I have to get up so early?"

"We have shopping to do and then you have your lunch with the prince at noon."

"Why must everyone be morning people?" I said while putting my head back on the table.

"Most people are not, but they choose to not make it so hard on themselves and try to stay awake." said Sebastian as he picked my head up off the table.

"Fine, I'll eat my tea and drink my scones."

"You really are not a morning person."

* * *

I walked out onto the street with a thick tan trench coat and small grey heeled ankle boots. Sebastian was walking close to me; I think he was still a little shaken up from what had happened the other night with the letters. I kept grabbing onto Sebastian every time I would see someone who looked like Claude, but they always turned out to be someone else.

"Amélie, please stop grabbing my arm."

"Sorry, I keep see people who look like Claude."

"You haven't even ever seen him."

"I saw him in my dream remember."

"You said you just saw a man in a tail coat. How can you tell what he looks like from that."

"I don't know I just have this feeling that I will know him when I see him."

"Where almost to the cafe."

"Why on earth did I agree to do this?"

"To make the prince happy."

We walked up to the table Christophe was sitting at. I tapped him on the shoulder and said with a forced smile, "Bonjour."

"Hello, how... are you. I want to practice my English so I can talk to you better."

"I am good thank you. You have been getting a lot better."

"Please sit, both of you. Oh where did your butler go off to?"

"He does that sometimes."

"Now we can eat and have some privacy."

I didn't want to say but I could tell Sebastian had gone inside and sat a table where he could see us in perfect view.

"Garçon!" Christophe called.

"Je voudrais un sandwich au jambon."

"Et, pour vous?" said the water.

"Je voudrais un sandwich au jambon aussi."

" Et pour les boisions."

"Juste d'eau" Christophe said.

"Merci"

I looked over across the Seine and over a Notre Dame. The gothic architecture was even more impressive in person than it was in pictures I had seen. The sun was shining just right to put it in a spotlight and put everything else in the shadows of winter. It had finally stopped snowing, but it was still ice cold outside.

"How was your Christmas?" Christophe said, causing me to look back over at him.

"I would rather not talk about it."

"Was it work?"

"No. I guess I might as well tell you what's going on, but I probably will want to do part of the story in private since it does involve my work."

" I understand. How about you text it to me."

"I guess that could work. Hold on."

I took out my phone, Sebastian had gotten me one here so I would not have to worry about paying for overseas calling when I wanted to deal with business. I texted him a whole story of had happened yesterday with all the letters.

"How could I have not realized?" Christophe said.

He put his hand on my upper arm trying to comfort me. He looked up into my eyes with his cold blue ones. I could tell he cared for me and that made me feel even worse that I didn't. He took his hand off my arm when he saw the waiter coming.

"Pardon." the waiter said and set down the food and the waters. "Is there anything else I can get you."

"No, merci." I said and the waiter walked away. "Have you ever heard about Claude?"

"I do not think I have. You said he was a..."

"Yes, Sebastian knows him somehow."

"I wonder if this Claude is attracted to you because of your soul."

"Wait, you can see my soul too?"

"No, just a...what's the word?"

"Aura."

"Yes, your aura. It's very unusual." Christophe said while taking a big mouthful of sandwich.

"Why is that?"

"I do not know how to describe it. Its-Its...just different. Almost even part of it reminds me of a.."

"Like Sebastian's?"

"Yes. Garçon!" Christophe called and the waiter came over to the table. "Je voudrais l'addition si vous plait."

"Vola Monsieur." said the waiter handing him the check.

"Here let me pay." I said while taking out my wallet.

"No. I was the one who invited you out so I will pay. That is custom here."

"Ok."

"Would you like to go on a walk? It might help you clear your head about what is going on."

"I guess."

He stood up and gave me his hand to help me up. We walked over a bridge and where now on the same side as Notre Dame. I looked up at it. It was taller than most of the other buildings around, but not so much taller that it looked as out of place like Tour Montparnasse did. The sun by now had begin to set, casting a red-orange glow to everything.

We continued walking along, Christophe was humming some song I could not recognize and Sebastian was fallowing just far enough behind so he would not notice. Christophe picked up my hand and put it in his. I could tell where this was going, Sebastian had told me earlier that I should try to get as close to Christophe as possible so we would have more access to the king. It always seemed like Sebastian had his own agenda that he was following.

We went and stopped in the middle of a bridge with no one on it. I knew what was coming and dreaded it. Why did I not feel anything for him? He obviously really liked me and I didn't want to break his heart.

"Christophe..." I said.

He kissed the top of my nose first. Christophe pushed a few strands of hair that had escaped from my bun back behind my ear. I looked over his shoulder and saw Sebastian smirking while watching what I was having to go through. Christophe looked in my warm brown eyes with his cold blue ones and kissed me. It was a very soft kiss, his lips where gentle and where not trying to push against mine. They were just there, his touching mine and mine touching his. I closed my eyes and just let him keep kissing me. It wasn't like I didn't like it, I just didn't feel anything for him. With each kiss he pulled me closer so that we were right up against each other.

"Christophe..." I whispered wanting him to stop.

He kept kissing, his hands slipped down to the small of my back. I pulled away from him not want it to go any further.

"What is it mon petit chou?"

"I think I should go back home it's getting late."

"Would you like me to walk you home?"

"Sure." I said and gave him a kiss on the forehead. I was after all trying to act as though I had feelings for him.

* * *

"That was quite a performance you put on there. I could tell you here having _so _much fun." Sebastian said.

"Oh shut up, you know why I did that." I said angrily.

We were back in the apartment and sitting by the fireplace with it on. Bell was sitting on my feet purring away while Sebastian was petting her. I had started reading a new book, _A Girl with a Pearl Earring_. I felt as though my life was becoming so similar to her's. Well, in the aspect that I was being forced to do stuff so I could help my family and that I was being forced into a relationship I did not want to be in. I guess I wasn't really being forced to do anything; and neither was Griet. However, we both where doing it because we needed to and that's what everyone expected us to doI set the book down on the coffee table and kicked my feet to try to get Bell to move off of them.

"You know he enjoyed that." Sebastian said.

"Yes. I do." I said while opening up the front door.

"Where are you going?"

"Out for a walk."

" I will follow."

"I want to go alone."

"Amélie Claude is after you. I don't want you to get hurt."

"That is exactly why I want to go alone." I said while showing him that I had the daemon gun in my coat.

"Amélie!"

"Just let me do this. You said yourself you wanted me to take over the job."

"We have not even done any jobs."

"Right now this is my job."

* * *

I went back over to the cafe and got myself a tea. It wasn't as good at the tea at home, but it was better than freezing out there. I went on exactly the same path as I had this evening except now it was dark. All the stalls where packed up and gone that had been selling things along the Seine. Most of the people where not out, only those who looked to be Parisians and a few tourists kissing under the stars. I stopped on the bridge where we had kissed and looked at the icy black water below. There where little ice floats in the water that some birds had landed on and where cuddling for warmth. The sound of the water was so calming to my nerves that where on edge. I heard some foots steps come up behind me and turned around, I felt like my heart was going to leap out of its chest. When I turned around and saw who it was I almost fainted.

* * *

**AN: Thanks for reading. Sorry you have to wait till tomorrow to find out who it is, you can thank rinngtonesofcars for that. She is my editor and thought it would be fun to leave it at a cliff hanger.**


	8. Mon Petit Chou: Chapter 7

**Sebastian POV:**

"Amélie!" I shouted. I didn't want her going out by herself.

"Just let me do this. You said yourself you wanted me to take over the job. Right now this is my job," she said and then shut the door.

I guess I had to let her go, it's what she wanted to do. I wasn't going to force her to do anything more than I had already done. After all she wasn't forcing me to do anything except to help her get revenge on Claude. If letting her go out by herself would lure Claude out, then I would have to stay here.

I cleaned up the tea that she had not even taken a sip of before leaving. Bell followed me around trying to get attention. Even though I would normally get distracted by her, I was not. Amélie had taken over all thoughts in my head. I must go after her, I can't let Claude get to her, she's mine.

**Amélie POV:**

I turned around and saw Claude. He looked exactly like the man who had been at the dinner party. His eyes where the same golden color, he was wearing the same glasses, and even the same suit. I reached inside my coat and touched the gun.

"Now, don't you want to know what I have to say first?" he said in a silky smooth voice.

"N-no," I said while shaking from distress and the cold.

"Amélie, I thought you would be braver than this. You weren't so scared when Grell attacked."

"T-that was different."

"I guess you think a daemon who can't even hurt you because you're under contract already is more scary than a reaper who _can _kill you."

"What where you wanting to say?" I said, trying to get my courage back. It felt as though his words were trapping me inside a spider's web.

"Only that I could bring your parents back if you made a contract with me."

"Why would I do that, if I were just to end up dead."

"Oh you wouldn't have to be killed right away."

"But...I…"

"What is there not to like, you can make the terms so that you can live happily with your parents for as long as you want and not even have to worry about Sebastian and I."

"I..."

"Amélie!" I heard shouted and looked over to see Sebastian running across the bridge.

He stopped and picked me up in his arms. I looked up into his eyes; they were that red pink color again. Whenever he got like this it scared me.

"You sicken me spider." Sebastian said. "Always trying to go after my contracts aren't you."

"You always get the interesting ones. Plus it's been ages since anyone has even tried to make a contract with any of us, I'm hungry."

"Sebastian?" I said while looking up at him.

Darkness had started to come around us; I could no longer see the bridge and the rest of the people. Sebastian set me down and all of France came back into view. He and Claude were gone. I was the only one left on the bridge.

* * *

I felt like I had been walking for hours; I probably had been since the sun was coming up. I had no idea where I was, and even if I did Sebastian had the key to my apartment. I looked at my phone to see what time it was, 5:30. I had been out here for seven hours. I was so cold and hungry. I found a little pastry shop that had just opened and got some tea and scones.

Both helped me warm up, but I still needed to fins somewhere I could sleep. I missed my home. I missed my old school and my life before any of this had started happening. Maybe I should have made a contract with Claude. He could bring back my parents and we could live without anyone bothering us, we could be a family again.

"Is that what you want?" Claude's voice came from behind me. I must have been talking aloud.

"No," I said sternly and turned around to see him with a face of disgust. "Where is Sebastian?" I continued.

"In my web. Oh, and if you kill me...he dies too."

"Bring him back."

"Only if you make a contract with me."

"Never, I'm only Sebastian's."

"You will come, I know you will. By the way here's your key. Sebastian kept mumbling about his young mistress needing to get home. It got _so_ annoying."

"Thanks." I grabbed the key from him and ran off in the opposite direction. Even if I didn't know where I was going it was better than being around him.

I stopped running once I found the bridge we had been on earlier. I looked down at where we had been standing and there was a big black pile of ash. I picked it up between my gloved figures and rubbed it together making it float through the windy morning air. It felt weird not to have Sebastian tailing me anymore, I had gotten used to the calming effect he had on me.

* * *

I finally found my apartment and unlocked the front door. It felt so cold inside. There was no fire, no warm tea to make me feel better, and no smell of warm scones baking in the oven. Even Bell was not there at the front door to greet me. I plopped down on my bed and fell asleep from exhaustion.

* * *

I awoke to the sound of the door bell. When I opened the door and saw it was Christophe I felt a big swell of anger overtake me.

"How on earth could you have let Claude kill my parents?!" I screamed.

"What? I told you I do not know who this Claude is!"

"He was the one at the dinner party! How could you not know he was? He was talking with the king, your father. I though you could sense daemons!"

"Well, I can but I thought that was Sebastian. He looked just like him."

"He would never sit at the table next the king, he's my butler!" – add stuff - "Claude has Sebastian and I if I kill Claude Sebastian will die."

"What does it matter if he dies? He is just a daemon."

"Just a daemon! No he's my Sebastian and he is the only person I've got who is even remotely like family to me."

"What about me? I thought you liked me."

"You are so full of it. I don't like you, I never even said that I did."

"You sure acted like it."

"Exactly, acted being the key word there."

"But..."

"Leave."

I slammed the door in his face. How could he have not known? I wish I had Sebastian back, he was my only comfort now that everyone was gone. I guess I could, no that would never work. Even if I ordered him to come back he wouldn't. I had promised him I would never order him to do anything unless he wanted to, but I guess I had already broken that promise the time I told him to get revenge on Claude. It might be worth a try.

I said aloud, "Sebastian, I order you to come back to me. Now."

There was a turn of the door handle on the front door and in walked Sebastian covered with spider webs.

"Hello Amélie. That was quite the adventure. Oh, and thank you for getting me out of that situation."

"Sebastian. I...I thought I would never see you again."

"You called, so I came."

"I would hug you, but you're covered in spider webs."

"I shall go get cleaned off."

Sebastian walked off into the bathroom. I looked at my hands and saw that they were dirty and scraped up from my night out. I guess I would be needing to clean up as well. My blue silk blouse was fraying on the edges and my jeans had holes in the knees. My leather boots had scuff marks all over from running. My coat was in even worse shape, there was a big tear going up one of the sleeves and part of the collar had gotten torn off.

Sebastian came out of the bath room with his hair dripping. He was wearing his usual button down long sleeve shirt with jeans and black leather shoes.

"Do you want me to make you something to eat?"

"Oh god yes. Last time I ate was this morning." It was now 6 p.m.

"What would you like me to make? Duck with orange sauce and potato croquettes on the side?"

"That sounds good. Do you think you can mend this?" I said while pointing to my clothes.

"Yes of course. Why don't you get cleaned up while I make dinner?"

"Thank you so much. You don't know how much I missed your cooking this morning."

"I am sure you did," Sebastian said while petting Bell, who had come to greet him.

* * *

Dinner had been amazing. I pretty much ate the whole duck. I was now sitting back in my usual place on the couch reading. Sebastian was sitting next to me also reading and Bell was having fun playing with our feet. It made me feel like we were a real family. Christophe would never understand that Sebastian was so much more to me than a butler or a daemon.

"Amélie, why did you not call sooner?"

"To be honest I didn't think to because..."

"You didn't want to command me to do something I did not want to do?"

"Yeah."

"What changed your mind?"

"Mostly the fact that I had already commanded you to do something and also Claude said you wanted me to get home. I think that made me feel like you wanted to come back in some way."

"I will always want to come back. You are my Amélie."

* * *

**AN: Sorry I did not post this yesterday I have been having problems with the internet. However that did give me time to do a cover image for the story. It was going to be super simple but I decided that I was going to do a two character picture and have a bridge in the background that I would have to scale. (so much harder than just eyes and a rose, which is what I had been planning to do originally)**


	9. Mon Petit Chou: Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: Things Back to Normal**

**Amélie POV:**

"Amélie, when is Christophe supposed to come pick you up?" Sebastian called out from the kitchen. Christophe had called earlier and invited me over for dinner.

"I'm not going. I told him no already."

Sebastian walked out and set a tart of some kind down in front of me.

"Why? If you talk to him you might be able to get to the king and figure out what is going on," Sebastian said.

"I thought we knew what was going on. Mr. Red Head is stalking me to get to you, Claude is coming after me to get to you and trying to make a contract with me, and somehow the king is involved in all this," I said while cutting up my tart.

"You don't know that the king knows what he is involved in."

"Oh I think he knows exactly what's going on," I said with a big mouthful of tart.

"I will go call Christophe and tell him you will come over at seven, and please Amélie, stop talking with your mouth full."

"I won't go."

"Fine. What do you want me to tell him?"

"Well...tell him to meet me at the café again. I think we need to take this slowly and let things play out."

"Ok, I will go call him."

I took my last bite of tart and got up out of my chair. Sebastian came back in to get my dishes and clean off the table. I looked out the window and saw the trees were beginning to get leaves on them. I hadn't heard from Christophe since he'd come over that one night three months ago. I still could remember his shocked and saddened face when I slammed the door on him. I was sorry for how I had acted, but I just could not believe that he was not involved in this. He just had to know what was going on.

"Amélie," Sebastian said, bringing me out of my daydream.

"What?"

"Monica is here for your last lesson."

"Ok, I guess I will see you on the roof."

* * *

"Are you sure you're ok with doing this, Sebastian?" I yelled over to him. Monica had said we should use Sebastian's ability to heal to our advantage and use him for my target practice. I hadn't after all had much practice with moving targets and had only been practicing on the paper target.

"It's fine. I doubt you will even be able to hit me," he shouted back.

"Ok here goes nothing."

I started shooting at him. He ran and missed every bullet.

"See, not a scratch," Sebastian called back.

I shot again, this time to the right of him somewhat so each bullet would land right where he would be running. He stopped after the first one hit him; the other bullet flew by and eventually landed a few feet behind him.

"You got me, I am very surprised," he said, and then spit out the bullet. "Do you want to keep going?"

"For your sake, no. I really don't like shooting at you for target practice. Is it ok if we stop?" I said while looking over at Monica. She nodded and started to walk down the stairs to go back to the floor below.

Sebastian walked back over to me. His white shirt had a tiny hole with a red splotch on it right where his heart should have been.

"I would have been dead. Shall we go back down too, so you can get ready for dinner?"

"Fine."

I went back into my apartment and threw on a dress and a pair of kitten heels. I wasn't trying to impress anyone and it was just Christophe. Sebastian came in and helped me to get my hair up into a small little chignon. He had put his butler's uniform on; he almost always did this when we went out just to keep appearances up.

"Ok, I guess I'm ready then."

I walked out onto the street, with Sebastian tailing me. Of course there were always people who would gawk at the sight of him following such a young girl, but they got easier to ignore each time we went out. When I got to the café Christophe had already picked a table out and was sitting inside by the corner.

"Bonjour," I said and then sat down.

"Amélie, you don't have to act so formal."

"Oui."

"At least talk in English then, I know you prefer that."

"Yes, but you are the one who invited me here so I shall do the pleasing."

"Amélie, I have no idea what I did to you. What is wrong?"

"How could you not have known what was going on?"

"Listen, I have not been talking to my father at all recently...since I actually gave you the job. He got angry at me so I decided it was better just to let him be."

"I'm still not sure I can believe you."

"Please try. Would you like some coffee?"

"I don't drink coffee."

"What do you want?"

"Tea I guess."

Christophe called the waiter over and ordered tea for me. When it came, it was just lukewarm and very weak. The French obviously preferred their coffee and espresso to tea.

"Amélie, can we still be friends?"

"I guess," I said after taking another sip. "I didn't even feel like we were friends, I barely know you."

"Then let us start over. Hello my name is Christophe. What is your name?" he said while holding out his hand.

"Amélie, Amélie Brooks," I said, trying not to giggle at how choppy his English was.

"Nice to meet you, and welcome to France."

"I've been here for like almost a year now," I said, and then burst out laughing.

"I know but just try to play along, after all you did agree to start over."

"Never agreed," I said, becoming cross again.

"When you shook my hand you did."

"Fine, I will play along."

"So Amélie, what kind of things do you do?"

"Not much, I go shooting."

"How are you at it?"

"Fine, I guess."

"We should go together sometime, I bet I could beat you."

"I don't think so," I said while standing up. "But if you really want to know, why don't you call me and we can go out?"

"What is your number?" Christophe said, winking.

I took out a pen and wrote on his wrist. I felt so cheesy doing this, but if it got me closer to figuring out how the king was related to all this then I guess I had to.

"Good bye Christophe."

"Good bye, nice meeting you. Oh, I have an envelope for you. I was going to mail it, but since you're here..." he said, passing it over the table to me. I walked out of the restaurant and met up with Sebastian, who had been sitting at a table outside.

"That went rather well."

"Yeah I guess it did. As long as he is the one doing the chasing we will be ok."

"Did you get your pay check?"

"Right here," I said while holding up the envelope. "C'mon let's go to the bank so I can deposit this. Do you know when the money from my parents is supposed to be transferred over?"

"I put it into your account a week ago."

"I am so glad that is finally over with," I said. My father's attorney said that he didn't feel comfortable giving that much money to a teenager and would set it up in a trust. Sebastian contacted him and was able to persuade him to just transfer the money into the account that he had set up for me. Even though I had not been working for Christophe these past three months, every last Monday of the month I would get my €3000.

"Sebastian, do I even still need to be getting my paycheck?"

"Why not? Even though you are not getting jobs you still get paid."

"I know. It just feels wrong."

"If you look at in the sense that you are going after a daemon then you really are doing work."

"I guess, but it's more like I'm working against them."

"Nothing in your contract said you had to go after the daemons they told you to go after."

"If we're going by that logic then I think I'm ok with it."

"Great. What do you want to go buy first?"

"Groceries. You told me we needed to go shopping for those if I wanted to eat."

"So we will go to the bank, then go grocery shopping."

"Couldn't be more of a bland day. Have you gotten any leads as to where Claude is hiding?" I said. Neither Sebastian nor I had seen any since of Claude since that one day.

"No, none."

"I had been hoping for some excitement."

"You didn't have any shooting at me?"

"I do admit it was a little fun, but like I said I was seriously concerned I was going to hurt you."

"Even if you do, I will still always be with you. You wrist is a symbol of that."

I looked down at my wrist. The contract looked exactly the same, just like the black rose Sebastian had given me that was still blooming in its little vase in my room.

"Sebastian…" I said, looking up. "Where is the rose I gave you?"

"I keep it on me wrapped up. Why?"

"Just you mentioning my wrist made me remember the roses we gave each other."

**Sebastian POV:**

I was worried about her rose; it seemed to be almost black now. The only red that was left was just near where the stem attached. Even the stem had started to turn black on the day she met Claude. There was still the question about her book too. Grell had told me that the Undertaker still could not find a way to get it open.

"Sebastian, is something troubling you?" Amélie said.

"No, it's nothing."

"Are you sure? You seemed to have been in very deep thought about something."

"It's nothing, don't worry about me," I said, grabbing a cart out of the stall; we had arrived at the grocery store without me even noticing.

"Is that Grell over there?" she said, pointing to a tall redhead, who then turned around and was not. "I really could use his craziness right now."

"Just focus on getting Christophe happy again. Like you said, sometimes it's better if you take time to do things."

"Why didn't I just let you go after the king in the first place?"

"Because we still do not know if he is even involved."

"Yeah, but it's taking so long."

"You were the one who did not want to have any contact with Christophe for three months. That is not my fault."

"I said that so we could look for Claude, but it didn't work out."

"No, I'm sorry I could not find him."

"He's out there somewhere," Amélie said while sticking the last of the groceries in the cart.

"Is that it?" I said.

"Yeah, for now."

**Amélie POV**

When we got back to the apartment building, the front desk called me over and said they had something for me; Sebastian had already gone up to put the groceries away. The man came back from the mail room holding a single red rose.

"A man came by and dropped this off for you, Mademoiselle."

"Do you remember what the man looked like?"

"He had really strange gold eyes. He looked like he was about to go to out because he was wearing a tailcoat."

"Thank you. Also, if he comes by again make sure to notify me."

"I will."

"Merci."

I picked up the flower and went into the elevator. I opened the little card up and saw Claude's scroll handwriting. It read:

Dear Amélie,

I have been waiting to hear from you, so that we can make a contract together. I will give you one more month to contact me, before there are any consequences.

-Claude

The elevator doors opened and I ran out screaming, "SEBASTIAN!" I dropped the rose on the floor by the front door and held out the card so he could read it.

"What do you think he means by consequences?" I said.

"I have a feeling he will try to take you by force or through some other sneaky tactic."

"We need to get to the king. How soon do you think it will take before I get another invitation to dinner?"

"I would say exactly a month from today. You got an invitation from them this morning to go to a masquerade."

"I guess we will just have to wait till then to see him."

"So we shall."


	10. Mon Petit Chou: Chapter 9

**Amélie POV:**

I opened my eyes and saw Bell asleep next to my feet, just like she had been the whole night. As she rolled around in her sleep the little bell on her collar jingled, which is what had woken me up in the first place. I looked over at the clock on my end table with partially closed eyes, still tired from sleeping. It said nine thirteen, still too early for me to want to get up. Since I was already awake, I decided I would try to wake Bell too. I shook her a little bit and got a meow out and a big yawn accompanied by a stretch. She looked up at me with a stare that said, "Why did you get me up? You know I like to sleep in."

"You woke me up, it's only fair."

There was a knock on the door and Sebastian came in with my usual breakfast tray of earl grey tea. "Good morning. For once I can actually say that and it is morning," Sebastian said while putting the tray down on the bed. "Were you just talking to Bell?"

"Maybe, she woke me up."

"I see. Oh and happy 17th birthday."

"It's already the 12th?" I said. That meant there was only one more day till the party.

"The time has flown by with you sleeping most of the day, hasn't it?"

Sebastian's comment made me laugh and almost made me choke on the piece of scone I had just taken a bite out of. It was the usual buttermilk scone with big sugar crystals sprinkled on top. "No special scone for my birthday?"

"No, last time I made you special scones was a horrible day and I did not want a repeat of that. Especially since it's your birthday."

"That makes sense. Did you make a cake?"

"Not yet. Don't worry about that, just eat your breakfast. I will be in the kitchen cleaning up if you need me for anything."

"Thank you Sebastian," I called out to him as he left the room.

After I finished my breakfast I looked over at the clock again, 10. I decided I would get up. After all, I wanted to spend as much of the day as I could doing things because it was my birthday. I walked into my closet and threw on a pull over argyle sweater and some jeans. Even though it was March, you could still feel the cold winter air blowing when you went outside. I walked out of my room and found Sebastian cooing over Bell.

"Sebastian," I said, trying to get his attention.

"Oh yes, sorry I did not hear you come out. What do you want?"

"I was thinking, I've known you for almost a year now and I really don't know anything about you."

"What would you like to know?"

"Hmmm. What is it like to be a daemon? How are you different than humans? I mean you look the same as us, most of the time."

"That is a complicated question to answer. To start off, all our senses are amplified by about, oh I would say ten times or so. We can heal when wounded, so we do not really have to worry about dying. That is unless we are struck by the one gun you have or other weapons like it. Another handy thing is that we can see a person's soul. I guess it's not necessarily seeing it but more understanding what type of soul a person has. For example, when I first met you I could tell you were a very sweet girl, but also had a mind of her own. So mostly things like that; it really helps us to decide if we want to make a contract or not. The more complex the soul, the better the tasting. At least in my opinon."

"I never realized there was so much that went into deciding if you wanted to make a contract."

"Not everyone is as picky as I; some go for the easy ones that only last a day or two because they are that hungry."

I shuddered at the thought. I guess I was one of the lucky ones, that I had lasted so long with a daemon. "Sebastian, I think we should go out, I need to find a dress for the masquerade anyway."

"I thought you hated shopping."

"I do, but I want to get out of the house and it needs to be done. I can't go to the masquerade wearing something out of style now can I?" I said jokingly. It always made me laugh thinking people would shun you at parties if you did not have the latest trends on.

* * *

I walked out of the dressing room and stepped up onto the pedestal in front of a mirror. I was wearing a knee length grey flapper style dress. The bottom was lined with feathers and little strings of pearls. The top had pearls strung all across the drop waist bodice and draped off of the shoulder straps. "What do you think?" I said, twirling in the vintage Channel dress.

"I think it will do."

"Now all I need is a mask. They probably could make one to match the dress."

"No, I think I have one for you already that would go. It's back at the apartment."

"Ok I guess we will take this one then," I said to the clerk. I was so happy that I only had to try the one dress on and that I would be done shopping.

Once we got home, I plopped down on the couch causing Bell, who had already been on the couch, to hiss at me. "Stop that, you're not miss queen of the couch. You have to share."

"Sebastian, anything interesting in the mail today?" I asked as he opened the front door; he had just gone down to check.

"Nothing much: some bills and a birthday card from Christophe."

"What does it say?"

Sebastian opened the envelope and handed the card to me. It was just a plain white card with my silhouette on the front in an oval. Around the picture was a lace boarder and written on the top was Happy Birthday Amélie. The inside read:

Mon petit chou,

Happy birthday. You don't know how much this year has meant to me, even in the bad times. Just meeting you has changed me; seeing you so brave made me realize that you were the right person for the job. I would like to invite you to the ballet at the Paris Opera house. It starts at eight thirty; I will meet you outside by the front door.

- Christophe

"I'm not sure I should go," I said, looking behind me up at Sebastian.

"What if the king ends up being there?"

"You have a point. I guess I am going to the ballet then. I hope you hadn't started making the cake yet."

"No, it's fine. This is more important than a cake."

I walked into my room and tried to decide what I should wear. I decided on the black dress he had given me for the dinner party. I thought it would be nice to wear it again because it was such a pretty dress. I put my hair up the same way I had that night, a high bun with the gold tiara. I looked at myself in the mirror. I was older. My eyes had steadied and had the same cold look that Christophe's had had when I first met him. Christophe's eyes were now the happy ones. It seemed like with this job you paid the price of happiness.

Sebastian walked into the room holding a little box wrapped up in black paper and a silver bow. He set it down on the vanity table and said, "Open it."

I tore the paper off and inside was a small light blue jewelry box. I opened the jewelry box and saw a sapphire ring with an intricate silver band. I put it on my thumb since it looked to be too big for my other fingers.

"Thank you Sebastian, it's beautiful," I said as I got up to give him a kiss on the cheek. "Sebastian, after all this is over with, I'm done. I feel like this is what I was supposed to be doing and once I finish I won't really know what to do."

"Are you sure?"

"I just have this feeling that it's supposed to end after we get rid of Claude."

* * *

I stepped out of the car into the night air. People in evening wear were all around bustling to try to get to the opera house. All the windows were lit up and sparkling. The gas lamps along the street were lit, causing everything to have a golden glow to it. I looked up at the top of the steps and saw Christophe with a handful of white and pink roses. He was wearing the same tux he had been the night of the dinner party. I walked up the stairs with Sebastian holding my hand to help me up.

"You look beautiful," Christophe said. "These are for you and happy birthday."

I handed the roses to Sebastian and gave Christophe a hug. Even though I still was not sure of his involvement, without him I would not be here. I stepped back and could see a faint pink in his cheeks. "Thank you Christophe, for everything."

"Shall we go inside? It's about to start," he said while offering me his arm.

I put my hand in his and started walking into the building. In the main hall there was a marble staircase with gold railing, and at the bottom of each rail was a sculpture of angels holding up lights. The staircase split off into two and went up on either side with the same angels at the top of the stairs. Once at the top of the stairs Christophe led me over to a door and opened it.

It was the box closest to stage right. I looked out over the balcony; everything had a golden glow to it like there had been out in the hall. On the ceiling was a huge crystal chandelier with a modern painted circular mural surrounding it. All the seats were lined with red velvet and gold trimmed. There were five levels of seating.

"We should probably sit down, it's about to start," Christophe said as the lights were being dimmed. The music started with the overture to Romeo and Juliette.

* * *

I made it through the first two acts without feeling antsy. But halfway through the third act I started to feel like something was off. I heard voices coming from outside the door in the hall. I got up and told Christophe to wait there. I didn't want to have to worry about him getting caught up in a battle, if there was even going to be one. As I walked by Sebastian and opened up the door, he got up and followed me out.

"What are you up to Amélie?"

"Something's wrong, I can just feel it."

I walked over towards the stairs and saw the king and Claude talking. The king was pointing to his eye, which had a very similar marking to the one on my right wrist. They looked over at me nervously and stopped talking.

"Hello your majesty," I said, taking my small hand gun from Sebastian.

Sebastian took out the daemon gun and pointed it at Claude. I pointed my gun at the king and asked, "Now why are you under contract with Claude?"

"Claude this is an order, get me out of here alive!" the king yelled.

Claude picked the king up and ran down the stairs and out the front door. I shot off a few rounds but none of them hit, or if they did they had hit Claude. I sat down on the floor and put my face in my hands out of frustration.

"Amélie, there was nothing we could do. He would have gotten out alive no matter what."

"I know. It's just frustrating because every time we see Claude we almost get him."

"We will get him eventually, it just takes time to catch a spider."

"I need to get back to Christophe."

I stood up with the help of the railing and walked back over to the box. I opened the door and saw that act three had just ended with Juliet taking the sleeping potion. The curtain fell and the lights came back on. Christophe got up and motioned for me to come sit by him.

"What happened?" he said. My hair had fallen out of my poorly constructed bun.

"The king was out by the stairs talking to Claude. I think he is under a contract. No, I know he is under a contract."

"How?"

"He had this mark on his eye," I said, pointing to mine on my wrist.

"But he has not had that before. I saw him yesterday and he did not have one."

"There are ways of covering it up. What do you think I did back home? Say I just randomly decided to get a tattoo of the devil's mark on my wrist?"

"I had not really thought about it. What are you going to do?"

"Wait till the masquerade and hope I have a plan by then."

"You really are just doing this as you go along."

"Yep," I said, smiling as the lights dimmed for the final act.

* * *

We got back to the apartment around midnight. As soon as we got inside I kicked my heels off and changed into my silk pajamas.

"Sebastian please tell me you have a plan."

"I do, would you like to hear it?"

"No I just wanted to make sure you had one. I like it better when I have to think on my feet. I tend to do better at things when I don't have time to think what could go wrong."

"You should go off to bed, it's late."

"I just wanted to make sure you knew what you were doing."

I picked Bell up off the couch and went into my room. I set Bell on the chair at the end of my bed and looked out the window. The trees outside had almost all their leaves now and were blowing in the wind. I opened the window and smelled the night air. As I looked up I could see the moon was covered by incoming rain clouds, causing it to cast an eerie shadow around the city streets. Even the weather seemed to point out that the coming day was going to go horribly.

I looked over and saw Bell had climbed up onto the foot of my bed and was sleeping on the floral bed spread. Her purple collar matched the color of the tufted headboard perfectly. She rolled around playfully like she had been doing this past morning. I guess I was going to be woken up early again. I climbed into bed and turned my lamp off, and let the sound of the wind put me to sleep.

* * *

**AN: Sorry I took so long to get the last chapter out my internet has been having some major problems and my editor was moving, so she did not have time to be editing things. Next Chapter is the last one for this book. There will be another book coming out soon, more on that at the end of chapter 10. Thanks for reading.**


	11. Mon Petit Chou: Chapter 10

**AN: In a couple of weeks part two will be posted.**

* * *

**Amélie POV: **

_I woke up to the sound of rain pouring down outside. The window was closed; Sebastian must have done that while I was sleeping. Bell was at my feet moving only when she breathed. My room did not have the bright and happy colors it normally seemed to have, but was drained of color and seemed to be different shades of grey. There was a knock at the door and Sebastian came in holding not my usual tea breakfast but the box that held my guns. _

_ I got out of bed sluggishly and opened up the box to see that there was only the daemon gun inside. "Where's my other one?" I said, picking up the heavy gun._

_ "You need to learn to use this before we leave tonight. I will see you on the roof."_

_ I went over to my closet and threw a rain coat over my pajamas. It didn't matter at this point what happened to my clothes. Either way, I was not going to come back home after I left to go to the party. I walked up the stairs barefoot, having forgotten to put shoes on. As soon as I opened the roof access door rain blew in, drenching me even before I took a step out. Sebastian was on the other side, wearing his black coat and holding my small gun._

_ "Sebastian, I will kill you if I hit you with this."_

_ "Does it really matter? I have lived longer than anyone should."_

_ "I won't do this!" I dropped the gun and a shot went off. Sebastian fell to the ground. I ran over to him and dropped to my knees; his eyes were closed. "No, you can't die," I said while rain and tears poured down my face. "I love you."_

_ As soon as I said that his eyes opened back up. He pulled me down and kissed me._

_ "Amélie, you taught me how to love," he whispered in my ear. _

* * *

I sat up breathing heavily. Bell was rolling around as usual, causing her little bell to ring. Just like in my dream it was raining outside, except my window was still open.

Sebastian walked in through the door right as I finished saying, "That was the strangest dream I have ever had."

"What was? Tell me about it."

"No, it was nothing."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, just let me have my tea in peace."

"Ok then, I will be up on the roof waiting for you to do shooting practice."

"Can we not? It's raining outside." In truth I really did not want to do it because of the dream I had just had.

"Amélie, you need to practice with the daemon gun. You have never used it before."

"I know, can't I just wing it?"

"No."

"Then promise me this – I won't have to shoot at you."

"Why would I make you do that? It would kill me."

"No reason, just wanted to make sure you weren't going to have me do that, because in case you're wondering I would never do that even if you wanted me to."

"Is that what you dreamt about?"

"Yes," I said, trying to hide behind my pillow.

"I will not ever make you do that, I would not be able to finish our contract then."

* * *

"Again," Sebastian shouted over the rain.

I had been failing miserably at hitting the target. The gun was too heavy for me to hold properly and the kick back had already caused me to have a huge bruise on my ribcage. I aimed just like I usually did, lining up the notch in the top with the target and adjusting for the wind. I shot off another round, causing me to fall over into a puddle behind me.

"I can't do it Sebastian. Why can't you just do it?"

"It won't work the same way if a daemon uses it. That is why it's such an amazing weapon," he said while walking over to me.

"I don't think I can do it," I said, shaking my head.

"You have to."

I raised the gun one more time, closed my eyes, and shot.

"Very good Amélie. We can go back down now," he said while starting down the stairs.

I opened my eyes and saw it was a perfect bull's eye, right between the eyes. Now I would have to do that under pressure and while someone was moving. I would need all the luck in the world to pull this off.

I got out of the hot bath water; the puddle that I had fallen into had covered me in dirt. I toweled off my hair so it wouldn't keep dripping everywhere. I put the pearl dress on and walked out into my closet.

"Sebastian, can you do the back up for me? I can't get the zipper." He placed his gloved hand on the dress and zipped it up.

"Amélie, you should probably have the gun on you so you do not have to worry about holding a purse the whole time. Use this." He held out a garter with the gun on it.

I put it on; you could not even tell I was wearing it because of the feathers on the skirt. "I guess I picked the perfect dress then. Oh Sebastian, can you put my hair up so I can wear the crown Christophe sent over earlier, he wanted me to wear it."

"I can."

I sat down at the vanity and let him pull my hair up into a tight bun. I did not want it to fall out like it had done when I did it myself. He put the new pearl tiara in the bun. This one fit just around my small little chignon and wrapped all the way around with a silver band. On the front were interlocking woven triangles forming the tiara with pearls in between the spaces.

I looked up at Sebastian and said, "Thank you. Do you have my mask?"

"It is right here," he said, holding out a box.

I pulled apart the tissue paper and saw a lace mask. It was made out of silver wire with spaces in the lace so my skin could peek through. Along the edge of each eye hole were tiny round pearls. I picked the mask up; it was much lighter than I thought it would be. I turned around and let Sebastian tie the black satin ribbon. I grabbed some silver kitten heels from a shelf and put them on. I did not want to wear anything too high since I knew I wouldn't be enjoying the party much.

"I guess I'm ready then."

Once we got down to the lobby Sebastian helped me into my coat and gloves. It seemed like everything was going in slow motion. I knew the end to this was near.

"Bonne nuit," the front desk person called out to us as we left. Sebastian waved a hand of thanks to the man as he opened the door for me.

The black car was outside waiting. Sebastian opened the door for me and helped me inside. He climbed into the seat next to mine and closed the door. After we had driven for a while I leaned over to Sebastian's ear and whispered, "Sebastian, I'm scared." In response he put my hand in his and gave me a kiss on the nose.

"Everything will be fine."

As we drove up to the mansion I could see a line of cars out front by the gate. The driver took us around all of them and let us out right on the front steps. "Thank you," I said as I got out of the car. Everyone was wearing masks, even the servants, although theirs were just plain black. I entered the main ballroom where everyone had congregated. I scanned the room looking for Claude or the king, neither one was there.

"They're not here. I figured as much would be true."

"Why don't you go off and try to find Christophe, he is probably looking for you too. Oh look, here he comes." Sebastian pointed straight ahead of him.

Christophe was wearing a twenties style tux to match my dress. "We match perfectly," he said happily. Christophe always seemed to be in the dark about what was really going on.

"Christophe, do you know where you father is? It's really important."

"No, hello? At least dance with me before you get all serious on me."

"But…" I said as he grabbed me and pulled me out onto the dance floor.

"I will go look for them," Sebastian called out to me and walked back into the other main hallway. The ballroom reminded me a lot of the inside of the opera house. It had a very similar chandelier on the ceiling and had a second story hallway with arches surrounding it.

"Christophe, I really need to know where your father is," I said as we danced around the room.

"Please just one more dance."

"You don't know where he is, do you?"

"No, I don't to be honest, he has been missing since we went out to the ballet."

"That long, hmmm. I think he's here, just hiding. I will be right back," I said, leaving him mid dance.

I walked over to the end of the room where there were two French doors leading out into the gardens. I heard footsteps following me and turned around.

"I want to come with you," Christophe said.

"Christophe, no. You will get hurt."

"No I won't, you will protect me."

"I can barely protect myself. I can't be responsible for you."

"I'm not staying here."

"Do you at least have a gun on you?"

"Yup, it is part of my costume." In a lower whisper he said, "It's real though."

"That makes me feel somewhat better. Ok fine, just stay right behind me."

I walked out into the gardens; the fountains were all lit up making the water sparkle. Some of the topiaries had lights on them too. I looked further out into the gardens and saw they were dark.

"That's where they're hiding," I said, pointing.

"We have to go there? It's so scary."

"You don't have to come."

"No, I told you I want to come."

**Sebastian POV:**

As I walked out of the ballroom I saw a flash of red come from behind a column. "Grell come out, I know you're there," I said. He came out from behind, holding his little scissor-scythes. "Is someone planned to die?"

"Oh yes, I'm sure they will be the most wonderful deaths, too."

"Multiple people are scheduled to die tonight. Can you tell me who?"

"Maybe if you give me a kiss, Bassie."

"Fine." I walked over and kissed Grell on the cheek.

Grell said they would be out in the back part of the garden, so I would have to hurry if I wanted to make it there before any of the fighting could start. I ran through the rest of the house trying to avoid populated areas, so no one could get in my way. By the time I got over there I could already hear screaming. Amélie's screaming.

**Amélie POV:**

Christophe and I walked deeper into the darkness of the gardens. The gravel kept making me trip because of its uneven surface. It got so bad that I broke the heels off of my shoes so that I would stop falling.

"There, now we can move much faster," I said, throwing the heels to the ground and starting to run.

"Slow down I can't run that fast!" Christophe yelled out to me.

"We're almost there."

I stopped once I reached the grass clearing. There was a small bridge going over a pond and a trail leading over to a white gazebo. The full moon was reflecting in the water, giving the rest of the surroundings more light than the rest of the garden.

"I can't see a thing anymore. Amélie, where are you?" Christophe called from around the corner.

"Just keep walking forward. You'll be able to see in a few seconds."

He came around, mesmerized by the overwhelming view.

"How did you know this was out here?"

"I just knew."

"What do we do now?"

"Wait for Claude to show up. He will."

"You are right Amélie. I am here." Claude's voice came from the other entrance to the clearing.

"Claude... Where is the king?" I said.

"Oh, I ended our contract early."

"I don't even want to know what your contract was with him."

"I will tell you anyways. He wanted to have wealth beyond compare, the usual wish among you humans. In return he not only agreed to give me his soul but also to help me locate Sebastian."

"How could he do that?"

"Just like your little boyfriend here, the king can sense daemons. However, he can also locate them. And the cherry on top of this all is he was under contract so I could torment him like I had before with Ciel." I pulled out my gun and pointed it at Claude. He took out a knife and started running towards Christophe and I. I screamed as loud as I could in hopes that Sebastian would hear and got ready to shoot, but right then Sebastian bumped into me, causing me to lose my aim.

"Amélie, shoot!" Sebastian yelled out to me, but it was too late, Claude was already too close.

Sebastian grabbed me out of the way, leaving Christophe unprotected. Claude stabbed Christophe right in the heart. He looked down at his crisp white shirt as a big red spot started to appear around the knife in his chest. Christophe looked up to me with eyes of agony and then collapsed on the ground. I buried my head in Sebastian's coat not wanting to look at Christophe's dead eyes.

Sebastian lunged to protect me from Claude's knives. Sebastian had knives between each finger and was holding his hands in fists. The two were fighting unlike anything I had ever seen, each throwing knives at the other trying to get an advantage, only to end up losing it a few seconds later.

"Amélie!" Sebastian called out.

"I can't get a target on him, you're moving too fast."

"Then I suppose we will have to do this the hard way. Amélie, close your eyes and do not open them till I say so. Can you do that?" Sebastian's eyes were glowing again.

"Sebastian, before I do I have one last order. Kill Claude!"

"Yes my Mistress, now please close your eyes. I will count down from ten."

"My eyes are closed." I had covered them with my hands.

"Ten," I heard Sebastian say as Claude cried out in pain. "Nine...eight... seven... six...five...four...three...two...one. You can open your eyes now."

I looked up at Sebastian, who was covered in Claude's black blood. "Is it over, are we finally done?"

"Yes, Mistress Amélie. Go to sleep now, you looked tired," Sebastian said.

He picked me up, holding my legs over his arms. I put my arms around his neck and let myself fall asleep in the comfort of his presence.

* * *

I heard Sebastian's voice come out of the darkness of my dreamless sleep and say, "Amélie, wake up, you have been sleeping for a while now."

I opened my eyes and found I was in a boat lying down. I was surrounded by all white roses lining the inside of the boat. I sat up and saw Sebastian standing up holding a long oar to row. He was no longer covered in blood, but was wearing his same butler's uniform and had my red rose in his pocket. It seemed to be almost black now; just the very inside petals had a reddish tint to them. "Where are we?" I asked, while putting my hand in the dark grey water. In my other hand I held the black rose Sebastian had given me.

"Do you really want to know?"

"I guess not, it doesn't matter now, does it? I'm dead."

"Not yet, I still have not taken my part of the contract."

Through the surrounding fog I could make out a small island coming into view. As we got closer I could see there were tall mountains near the back of the island and some ruins surrounded by old looking trees. The shore was made up of dark slate colored rock that slowly changed in to stone stairs leading up to the ruins. Once the boat hit the shore Sebastian picked me up again and got out. As he started walking up the stairs, each of our roses began dropping petals, leaving a trail behind us.

The ruins looked like they had once been a castle, but all that was left now was a three-walled room and some other walls scattered through the surrounding area. We walked into the one remaining room; it had one stone bench in the center of it where Sebastian set me down. Both our roses were petal-less now. I looked up into Sebastian's dark red eyes and let a tear fall from my eye. As another one began to fall Sebastian wiped it away with his ungloved hand.

"I guess this is the end then. Good bye Sebastian."

"Good bye Amélie," he whispered.

I closed my eyes and let the darkness of his true form surround me.


	12. Mon Petit Ange: Prolague

**AN: This is meant to be a second book which is why it has a different title. I will try to update this every weekend from now on; sometimes multiple chapters or only one, depending on how much I am able to write.**

* * *

**Madilin**

The sun was shining through the three arched windows in my study. Most of the days recently had been dark and rainy because it had just become fall; it was nice to get a bit of sunshine in the dark world that surrounded me. My study had bookshelves in a dark ebony all along the back wall. The floor was a white marble but part of it was covered with a black rug under a small sitting area. My desk sat in front of the windows and gave me the perfect view of the rest of the grounds and gardens.

I heard a knock at the door and said, "Come in Damien."

"I have your tea," he said and put it on the unused space on my desk. He was wearing his black suit and grey button down shirt.

"Still sorting through the post I see. Lemon with your Earl Grey?"

"Yes, I always prefer my tea that way. I wouldn't be English if I did not. As for business matters, apparently we are having a problem with people showing up dead in their homes."

"Why does this concern us?"

"I was getting to that, they all have the same mark. A star, it's not black like mine, but brown."

"Each daemon has their own color."

"I know that. Has Christophe begun investigating the incidents yet?"

"Last I heard from the king, he was trying to find a replacement, but I did get an interesting letter that could solve that problem."

"You got a letter, from whom?"

"Sebastian Michaelis."

"Well read it out to me, I don't think I could handle reading another letter. That's all I've been doing these past three days."

"Damien, I am looking for work for my new contractor and I though you would be the perfect person to ask, since your current position is working for the king in underworld matters. I was wondering if there is currently a spot available regarding field work. I would be pleased if you tell me your response as soon as possible. Signed, Sebastian Michaelis."

"How do you know him?" I asked. I had not heard him mention Sebastian's name before.

"I last met him during the Victorian era. I believe he was actually under contract with a boy doing this exact job, but we first met long before then"

"How was he at it? Can he be trusted?"

"He can, although it would be more of a question of if the person he is under contract with can be trusted."

"We need someone so I guess he will have to do. Send him back an acceptance letter and get Christophe over there as soon as possible. Oh and have him take that box over there, the one on the coffee table," I said, pointing over by the sitting area with two white chairs.

"Why are you giving Christophe the guns.?"

"It's not for him, it's for Sebastian or whoever his contractor may be. They will need it."

"If you are sure."

"Damien, one last thing. Have Claude keep an eye on things. I know he's contracted to the king, but he is still just as loyal to me."

"I will. Is there anything else you need me to do?" he said, putting his hand underneath my chin.

"No," I said, slapping his hand down. "There's no time for that, go over to the king's estate. You should have time to make dinner, right? It only takes half an hour to get over there and back."

"I will make sure I have dinner ready for you at eight, just like always."

* * *

I was in my study looking out at the full moon shining through the window, like I always did. Snow was piling up on the stone patio; I could not believe it was already December. I had my desk light on with a map of Paris laid out on my desk. I had spent all afternoon marking points where the murder victims were found; so far they had only happened in Paris. Five more had happened in the last month. Sebastian was supposed to come today, so hopefully we would soon have this taken care of.

"Damien," I called, looking back over my shoulder towards the sitting area.

"Yes."

"Have you gotten any word on if Sebastian arrived yet?"

"Christophe just got back home. He called while you were eating dinner."

"What did he say?"

"Not much, the girl signed the contract. He did say she looked a bit young though to be handling this. He said she looked to be about his age."

"She will do just fine. You should never send a man to do a woman's job, especially when there are daemons involved. Did he say anything else about her?"

"Nothing more than that."

* * *

"Good morning Madilin," Damien said while opening the grey curtains.

My bedroom had the same view as my study below, except it was one story up. Damien looked like he had just gotten out of bed himself; the twall blankets next to mine where all pulled back from the mattress and pushed over to my side.

"Do you want me to bring tea up to you, or would you prefer to have it in your study?"

"Just have it here," I said, while Damien poured a cup of tea out for me and set it on a silver tray.

"An invitation to the Christmas Eve dinner came today. Are you going to go?" He set the silver tray down on my lap and climbed back in next to me.

"I'm not sure. Last time I went it did not turn out well. I don't think the king likes it that I have control over him."

"I will send out a response saying you wish you could come but have taken ill."

"Always know just what to do," I said while giving him a kiss.

"Will Sebastian be there?"

"I believe so, there would not be any reason for him not to go."

"Have Christophe keep a close eye on the two. Also ask what the girl's name is, I need to know so I can start her file."

"I will. Any other information?"

"How long she has been with Sebastian, what their relationship is like. Just the usual, but nothing into her life before the contract. That never matters, the person always changes after a contract and if not from the contract, from the reason they made the contract in the first place. Also, has Claude said anything about them?"

"No, I do believe he will be attending the party though and meeting them for the first time."

* * *

"What did Claude say to you about the dinner party?" I asked. Damien had just gotten off the phone with him.

"He gave the letters to Christophe. For some reason, he would not say why, he did not feel comfortable introducing himself to the two."

"Hmm. Anything else?"

"He also said that a Reaper attacked Sebastian, the girl, and Christophe, and that she seemed more than capable of handling the situation."

"That's good."

"Claude also says that Christophe seems to be quite fond of her, but she is not of him."

"I know this will end badly for him. Unless there is some reason she needs to be close to him. Did you get the rest of the background information put together in her file?"

"Yes, would you like to see it? I have it right here."

"Hand it over."

I looked down at the picture of her and her name, Amélie Brooks. The rest said she was born and grew up in Wales. Under contract since November, so just over a month. Brown hair, brown eyes, and pale skin; English look to her. Mother and father deceased, with today's date next to it.

"When did this happen?"

"I found that out just now, if you are referring to the date of her parents' deaths."

"We should probably give her some time off then. I would say about three months as long as nothing comes up that needs to be handled by her."

"Why so long?"

"It's her parents, plus it might take a while to figure out the situation and how she can stay working for us since she has no other family. She will have to prove she can take care of herself."

"I see, so just after Easter we can start giving her assignments again. Will we need to hire a temp?"

"No, we can do it. We haven't been out in the field for a while and I think we should keep our skills up."

"I'm all ready."

* * *

"An invitation to a masquerade at the king's estate came today. Are you going to go?" Damien asked.

"I think I will, I want to meet Amélie. Has Claude said how she is handling the deaths of her parents?"

"He said she has taken it ok."

"What about her and Christophe?"

"Claude says they are very close now. But as before, he feels like it's an act she is putting on just to use him."

"Have Claude figure out why, and end this. I can't lose this girl since she was able to take care of the daemon causing all these problems." I was not sure how she did it, it just mattered that the killings had stopped.

* * *

"Did you send flowers over to the king's house? Claude ended his contract with him," I asked Damien.

"Yes, did you hear about what else happened last night?"

"There was more?"

"There was a fight out in the garden, between Claude, Sebastian, Amélie, and Christophe."

"How did they all end up out in the garden? I didn't even see her at the party."

"She left after one dance with Christophe. I followed them. She told Christophe to stay behind, but he would not listen."

"Smart girl, that boy can't even handle a spider."

"Once they got out there Claude attacked them."

"Why would he want to do that?"

"Amélie has a very interesting soul, if she were not already under contract I would have tried to make one with her myself."

"What else happened? You said Sebastian was there too."

"Amélie was about to shoot her daemon gun, but Sebastian pulled her out of the way. There was no way she could have shot Claude. Claude stabbed Christophe with his knife; he's dead now."

"When are they having the funeral?"

"Soon, I think in a few days. Would you like to hear the rest?"

"There's more?"

"Just a bit. Sebastian attacked Claude under Amélie's command. After that he picked her up and took her away. I think he planned to eat her soul."

"Did he?"

"Sebastian did not kill Claude fully, just shredded him. He's still alive, I saw him get back up and walk away."

"Where is he?"

"I'm not sure. But if he is still alive then I have a feeling that Sebastian was not able to eat Amélie's soul. Do you want me to contact them?"

"I will just write a quick note saying jobs will continue after the funerals have taken place, no need for personal contact."

"Oh, and one more thing. The daemon is back, a body was found this morning in Amélie's apartment building," Damien said, surprising me.

"Get information to Amélie immediately. We need to stop this before it gets out of hand like it did last time."

"I will. Is there anything else you would wish me to do?"

"That's it...for now."


	13. Mon Petit Ange: Chapter 1

**AN: Happy Wednesday everyone, sorry I did not post on the weekend. Things got really busy and I forgot to upload, but the good news is Chapters 2-8 are in editing so those should be going up as soon as they are done.**

* * *

**Amélie**

It had been exactly a year since I had made a contract with Sebastian and I wanted to celebrate. "Sebastian, do you have my cloche hat? It's raining outside and I don't want to get too wet."

"It's right here. Now where are we going?" he said, handing it to me.

"I don't have to tell you, just follow my directions," I said, giving him a paper with directions to a café I had found on the Champs-Élysées called The Black Cat. I felt it was ironic in our circumstances to go eat at a restaurant with that name.

We walked down the stairs to the basement garage and to my bike. Sebastian climbed on and turned the engine on. I climbed on behind him and grabbed his jacket with one hand and my hat with the other.

The rain came down, hitting my face and causing me to blink twice as much as usual. We turned the corner and Sebastian parked the bike on the street next to a meter.

"How long is this going to take?" he asked.

"Put enough in for three hours. I need to do some shopping, all this daemon hunting has really made me lose all my clothes."

"And still no dead daemon to show for it."

"I'm sorry, but that gun does not work the same as the other one. Plus it's still way too heavy for me to hold properly."

"Which way?"

"Just keep walking, I think you will be able to tell which place we are going."

We walked down the street a ways before I heard someone say, "Ami!" I turned around and saw my friend from school, Chloe, with her twin brother Calvin. He hated that name so everyone just called him Cal. She was wearing an outfit much like mine, a trench coat and cloche hat. However, you could only see one red curl peeping out of her hat, whereas all my hair was showing. Her brother was holding the umbrella up for her while she was holding an armful of shopping bags.

"Chloe! What are you doing here?" I asked while hugging her. Sebastian meanwhile was holding up an umbrella over me so I would not get any wetter than I already was from our ride over.

"We were just here for winter break. We always come to visit our family."

"I forgot, you have family over here. All mine's in England so the farthest we had to travel was up to London to visit family. How is everyone back in Wales?"

"Good, although it's not quite the same without you there. I can't tease Cal about the time you asked him out on a date in third grade as much."

"I don't miss that at all," I said, blushing a little. "How have you been, Cal?"

"Fine, pretty bored since Chloe dragged me along to go shopping with her. I always lose the vote for what to do now, since you're not here to vote against shopping," he said.

"Who is that?" Chloe said while pointing to Sebastian.

"Oh, Sebastian..." I suddenly got nervous and checked my sleeve to make sure it was covering my wrist. "He's just my butler."

"Your school gives you personal butlers? Where can I sign up?" Chloe said.

"I'm not going there anymore, to the same one I had originally been going to. I just hired him to take care of me since my parents are gone and I really don't want to go to some orphanage."

"That's right, I forgot what happened last Christmas. Are you doing ok?" Chloe asked.

"Yeah, I'm handling it, listen I was just about to go eat..." I said.

"Oh we would love to," Chloe jumped in.

"That's not what I was going to say," I said under my breath, and made Sebastian chuckle.

"What?" Chloe asked.

"Oh, that would be a wonderful idea," I lied. I had wanted it just to be Sebastian and me. I guess we could do that another day. That's all we had been doing recently, just spending time together hunting a daemon that was terrorizing Paris.

* * *

I was staring out the window watching all the people pass by, wondering what their lives were like. I wondered if any of them knew about daemons existing, or if any of them where daemons themselves looking for a contract. I hadn't even touched the sandwich I had ordered. I was too busy thinking about how I had wanted it just to be me and Sebastian. Although I liked Chloe – she was my best friend back home – she could get to be a little annoying when she went on and on about things.

"Amélie!" Chloe said while waving her hand in front of my face.

"What, sorry?"

"Were you even listening? I asked how you came to meet Sebastian."

"It's a long story, can I tell you it another time? I'm really not in the mood."

"We want to know."

"No sis, you want to know, because you think he's attractive," Cal said.

"I am in agreement with Cal," I said.

"You always agree with him," Chloe said, complaining.

"So what if I do, it's my choice."

"What do you think Sebastian, should Amélie tell us the story of how you two met?" Chloe asked Sebastian flirtatiously.

"Amélie can do whatever she wishes to, as long as it does not put her life in danger."

I laughed at that, since just yesterday I had gotten shot at by the daemon who we had been chasing after.

"What's so funny?" Chloe asked.

"Chloe, you know Amélie hates talking about herself. It's getting late anyways, we should go. Thank you for lunch," Cal said, picking up Chloe by the arm.

"Bye Amélie, nice running into you," she called out while walking out of the cafe.

I looked over at Sebastian and saw him smiling at me.

"What is it?" I said, not amused.

"You have interesting friends."

"Don't tell me you want to eat them, that would just be creepy."

"No, neither of them is the type I normally go after."

"Then what's so interesting about them? They're very normal people."

"Just how different Chloe is from you. You and Cal seem to get along quite well."

"I was first just friends with Cal, but then Chloe introduced herself to me and we have been friends ever since. I'm really only friends with her 'cause of Cal. Shall we go?"

* * *

"Any word from Madilin on where the guy is supposed to hit next?" I called out of the bathroom while getting ready for bed.

"She said that he was going to strike in the apartments one block over from here. Over by the one cafe you and Christophe used to go to. They are right above it."

"I still think it's weird that we have never even met and she is taking over the king's job. I didn't even know who she was till she sent that letter asking us to go after the daemon and explaining what was going on," I said while walking out of the bathroom with a towel over my hair.

"Damien, her daemon, is the one I contacted to get this job."

"You never told me that, how come?"

"You never asked."

"She has a daemon too? Do you know what her contract with him is?"

"Amélie, you will find that a lot of the royal family have daemons as their own personal pets. They feel it's their birthright to have them. However, Madilin is not a royal, she just handles most of the finances of the organization and now does the king's job as well. She did start out doing your job actually."

"How do you know all this?"

"I asked Damien about a month ago if he could give me any information on Madilin and also asked what his contract was with her. But like most daemons, he did not want to share that."

"Any other surprises for today?"

"Nope," he said, petting Bell who was at her usual place at the end of my bed. Sebastian got up and said, "Good night."

"Good night. Oh don't turn the light off yet, I want to read a bit before bed. Do you have the file Madilin sent over with the information on the previous cases that happened last year?"

"Yes, I can go get it for you."

"Thanks."

I opened the file; there was a map with all the points where murders had happened, some notes on people who had seen the glimpses of the daemon, and some pictures of the crimes. The people's eyes were strange, all of them looked soulless. There were also some pictures of the contracts. They all were a brown star with a circle around it; sort of like mine except they did not have the little lines on the outside circle.

"Sebastian, do you recognize the contract?" I said, handing the photos over to him.

"I believe that might have been Claude's mark. If you put line through all the points of the previous murders they make a spiral pattern, like a spider's web. I think Claude was the one behind the original murders. Do you remember what the king's looked like?" he said, while flipping through the photos and then handing them back over when he was done.

"No, I just got a quick glance that one time. I can't believe there have already been five murders this past month. It's double what happened last time. I wonder if they are trying to repeat what Claude was doing. "

"The way this one is acting is different. This person is not nearly so logical, the murder locations are scattered all over the place," he said, showing me the map of all the murders that had just started happening.

"Maybe. What time do we have to head over to the place tomorrow to get set up?"

"I would say just after sundown. The daemon seems to come around nine or so."

I passed the file over to Sebastian and turned the light off. He shut the door behind him as he walked out of the room. Ever since the masquerade he'd been acting differently. I couldn't remember exactly what had happened that night, but I did remember one thing that I had been dreaming about since then: Christophe's dead eyes staring up at me. I had not gone to his funeral; I barely knew him. It just seemed strange to go mourn someone I had never even cared for. To make matters worse, he left me the apartment and a small allowance each month. He had also left me a note, which I had not opened and was sitting on the vanity in the closet. I did not want to know what it said. I think he knew somehow he was going to die that night, I'm just not sure how.

* * *

We were in the apartment above the little café. It was run down and looked like no one had lived there in years, though there was some woman sleeping in the bedroom.

"Sebastian, what if she wakes up?" I whispered.

"Then we will knock her out."

"And by we, I think you mean you will knock her out."

"Amélie, why did you bring that gun? You know it does not do anything against daemons."

"I have the other one," I said, opening up my jacket. "I just don't like using it, you know it scares me."

"You have to learn to use it, otherwise we are never going to catch this daemon." Just as Sebastian finished saying that, the lights went out.

"Here he comes," I said. Blackness surrounded us and we heard the woman scream. The lights came back on and the darkness was gone. "How on earth are we supposed to get this if it just shows up as air? It's never done this before."

"I'm not sure, Amélie."

"You have the camera right?"

"It's right here," he said, giving it to me.

I opened the door and saw the woman with her eyes wide open and dead. I took a few pictures of her and the surrounding area and then closed her eyes. The eyes were always the worst. They scared me because it looked like the soul had just been sucked out of them.

"Did you find the contract mark?" Sebastian asked while flipping through a few of the books that were in the room; he always wanted to get a background on the people to see if there was anything connecting them. So far nothing did, except for the fact that they were all in Paris.

"No, this one does not have one."

"Hmmm. I think our daemon has moved on to just stealing souls without even contracting. It is easier, although they do taste rather rotten then."

I shuddered at the thought that any person was vulnerable to getting their soul stolen from them.

"I don't understand why a daemon would do this," I said.

"Often daemons do this when they're angry about something. Maybe they are upset about a contract that got messed up somehow."

"Maybe. Let's go home, I'm hungry. Do you want me to drive?"

"Last time you did we almost crashed, I think I should."

"Fine," I said, tossing the keys to the bike over to him.

We walked back out to the street and got on. I loved being able just to hold on and feel the wind on my face as we sped through the streets. It was so different than last year. Walking everywhere and not going out at all, besides with Christophe.

"Sebastian, can we just keep going? I don't want to go home right now."

"I thought you were hungry," he called back to me.

"I changed my mind, just keep driving. I need some time to think, and plus it's nice out."

"Where do you want to go?"

"Anywhere but Wales. I will never go back there."

"Why not?"

"It never really felt like home to me. It was just the place I grew up. Paris is my home now. I can't even remember what my other house looked like anymore."

We passed through the Arc de Triomphe roundabout and started back the way we came. Everyone on the streets had thick coats on and frowns, except the tourists. You could always tell them apart because they were smiling. Not that the others did not smile, but they did not have that look of awe in their eyes from seeing the city for the first time.

"Sebastian, what do you think is going on?"

"To be honest I'm not quite sure yet. But I am sure the other murders were committed by Claude. Especially since Madilin said you were supposed to have gotten information on this last time and that Claude had been handling it. Now as to the most recent set of murders, I am not sure who is behind them except that it is a daemon."

"How old do you think?"

"Just a couple of months actually," he said while parking the bike in the garage.

"What do you mean, only a couple of months?" I said while walking into the elevator.

"He's been under contract to someone for a couple of months, as to how old he actually is I could not say."

"Can you get the pictures printed out after dinner and put them in the file?"

"Yes. What do you want for dinner?"

"Something warm, it was really cold out tonight."

We got to the apartment and I walked straight into the study. I marked the spot on the map I had set up and pinned the date and time next to it. _Six murders now, and a total of seventeen_, I thought_. I don't know how much longer this can go on before the public will get involved. It's hard enough trying to keep just a few murders covered, but seventeen? Where are you hiding?_


	14. Mon Petit Ange: Chapter 2

**AN: I made a tumbr and will post when I update the story on there with a little preview of the chapter, its . Thanks for reading.**

* * *

**Amélie**

I woke up and pushed my covers onto the floor; they needed to get washed anyways. I picked Christophe's note up and contemplated whether or not today was the day to open it. Sebastian walking into my room just then gave me the answer.

"You still have not opened it, I see."

"It just doesn't feel right yet."

"You got an invitation to Christmas dinner at Madilin's house this morning, I assumed you were going and accepted it. There is also a call for you," he said, handing the phone over to me. He then set the tea tray he had been holding in his other hand down on the table and left the room.

"Ami!" Chloe said in her high pitched voice. I loathed people who where such early birds. Back home she would always call me on the weekends bright and early; I hated it. One time I even threw the phone out my window because I was so annoyed with her for calling.

"What is it?" I said, still not quite awake.

"I had this wonderful idea. Since all of us will be here for Christmas, why don't you come celebrate it with us? I assumed you were just going to be spending it with your butler anyways, since you never go out unless someone forces you. We're staying at our mom's boss's house and..."

"Chloe."

"What is it? You don't already have plans, do you?"

"I actually just did make some. I have a work party I need to go to. Where is the place, maybe I could stop by? You said it was somewhere in the country."

"Yeah, I positively hate it out here. We were going to stay in the city, but no, it's cheaper if we stay at Madilin's estate this year."

"Did you just say Madilin? Is that who your mom's boss is?"

"Yeah, ever since Mom broke up with Dad she's been working for her doing police work or something; I don't really know what though. Madilin is having this party with other people from work, so my mom said I could invite you since I would only have my brother to talk to and he really isn't much company, as you know."

"I think I might actually be going to that party already."

"You mean you've been working with my mom and didn't even know?"

"Well, with my job I really don't see the rest of the people. I work from my apartment."

"You have an apartment in the city? Can I please stay there? I don't think I can take it any longer out here."

"I guess, but you would have to sleep on the couch, it's only a one bedroom."

"Oh, that's fine. Anyways, what do you do for work?"

"Finances," I said really quickly, without even thinking about it.

"That makes sense, you only do stuff through mail."

"Sure," I said sort of sarcastically.

"Ok, I will see you on Christmas Eve then. Do you want to come shopping with me? I still have so much to do and you always make me speed through the stores, so everything gets done faster and…"

"When do you want to go?"

"How about today?"

"Sebastian?" I said, calling off towards the kitchen.

"Yes?" he answered while walking into my room.

"Am I free this afternoon?"

"I believe so. You do have work to do around five."

"Ok, I guess I can go," I said into the phone.

"EEEEKKKKK!" Chloe screamed so loudly I almost dropped the phone. "It will be just like old times. Dragging you and Cal along while I go shopping. Ok bye, I need to start getting ready. You have to look fabulous if you're going shopping in Paris."

"Bye Chloe. Meet me by the café where we ate yesterday."

"Ok, bye."

I set the phone down on the bed after she hung up and put my head in my hands. I hated going shopping with her. Chloe always treated me like her dress up dolls, putting me in clothes that I would never wear and then buying them for me because she said I just had to have them. I would then try to avoid wearing them, but I would always end up having to because she wondered why I didn't.

"What's wrong, Amélie?"

"I have to go shopping. With Chloe."

"You didn't get to go shopping last time we were out because we ate with them, so now you can."

"Shopping with Chloe I never get the things I really need. She picks out dresses for me and right now I don't need more of those."

"Ami, you would look so good in this," Chloe said, shoving another outrageous outfit at me.

"I told you, I don't need more dresses, I have plenty of those at home. What I really need are some clothes I can actually wear and move around in."

"I didn't know you were into exercising. We can go to one of those stores next," she said as she walked away towards another clothes rack.

I set the clothes down on a display table and walked over the bench where Cal was sitting. He was wearing jeans and a tee-shirt with a sweater over the top; obviously an outfit Chloe had put together for him since all of it was designer.

"Didn't find anything?" he asked.

"Chloe did for me, as usual. Nothing I would actually wear though. I really just would be happy with a jacket and jeans."

"I think I see some jeans over there, you should go over and look at them."

"Not those jeans, I need ones that I'm not scared I will get a scratch on. Everything here is way overpriced."

"You know Chloe, she has to have the best."

"Do you want to leave? I can take us somewhere else."

"As long as Chloe doesn't mind."

I walked over to the dressing room and knocked on Chloe's door. She came out in a floor length evening gown with a deep v going down the center.

"What do you think? I'm going to wear it to the Christmas party."

"Don't you think it's a bit much?"

"No. Why did you come back here if you're not trying anything on?"

"Cal and I are going to go for a drive, if that's ok with you?"

"Sure, you two are just my shopping bag holders anyways, since you don't seem to like anything I pick out for you."

"Call me when you want to go to dinner."

"Ok."

I walked back over to Cal and he stood up. When we stopped at my bike he said, "You drive this?"

"Yeah. I got it a few months ago. Probably the best way to get around here." I hopped on the bike and patted the seat behind me. "Can you grab the helmets out of the box there?"

"Yeah. Here you go," he said, handing me my small black helmet.

"You ready?" Cal nodded in response. "Then hold on."

I turned the engine on and rode the bike out of the space, then started off down the street. I planned on taking the same route as we had last night, except stopping at the Jardins des Champs-Elysées on the way back.

"You always surprise me, Amélie," Cal said while we were driving.

"Why? I told you when I was like five that I wanted a motorcycle."

"I know, I just didn't think you would actually get one. It doesn't seem like you at all, you were always so quiet back home."

"I've had to change. Especially having to take care of myself and do my job."

"Which sounds really boring, I thought you hated math. Mom always talks about how dangerous her job is and here you are doing the finances for them."

I looked over into the alleyway that was right next to the stoplight and saw a pair of golden eyes staring back at me; they looked just like Claude's. I pulled around to the other side of the street and parked, then hopped off the bike and went running into the alley. It was lined with back doors to restaurants and shops. Trash bags were sitting by them, covered with ants and a few rats that I had to jump over because they were blocking my path. I could see Claude run down another alley, and then I heard a scream. Before I could take off after him, Cal grabbed me and almost made me fall. I turned around and saw he was bright red and panting.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"I saw...I just need to go. Stay here."

"Amélie, this doesn't seem like a safe place."

"Here, take this then." I threw over the small gun I had been keeping in my leather jacket.

"I don't know how to shoot a gun. You should keep it, I don't know how to shoot."

"I don't need one. I have one right here," I said, pulling up my shirt to show him the daemon gun I had on my belt. "You remember how you used to go and take archery lessons? Shooting a gun is a lot like that, just aim using the little notch in the top," I said while running after Claude.

"Amélie!" he said, and grabbed my arm so he could keep up with me.

I turned the corner and saw a woman in the street passed out. I put my hand under her nose to see if she was breathing. "She's still breathing. Cal, call an ambulance while I go after Claude."

"Amélie, you can't go after that person. It's too dangerous."

"No it's not. This is my job."

I opened the door I had seen Claude run through when I had first started down the street. I climbed the stairs inside the building to the roof and opened the door. Outside was Claude standing on the roof, looking as alive as ever. I was shocked to see him there – I thought Sebastian had killed him. I aimed the gun and shot. When I looked up to see if I had gotten him, he was gone. Behind me, I heard footsteps coming up the stairwell. When the door opened and I saw it was Sebastian, I ran over and hugged him. I looked up at his eyes; they were glowing again.

"It was Claude, he's alive," I whimpered.

A few seconds later Cal came up and said, "I called the paramedics just like you asked." He saw I was crying and pulled me away from Sebastian, and asked, "Amélie, what happened?"

"It was Claude. How could he be alive? Sebastian killed him. This isn't right." I sat down and curled up into a ball, not wanting to deal with the stress of everything going on.

"Amélie, why did you go after him? You should have called me," Sebastian said.

I looked up and saw him kneeling in front of me. He pulled out a handkerchief and blotted my eyes. "I was driving and looked over and saw him in the alley...and...and then I ran after him. I heard a woman scream so I ran over in that direction. I saw she was still breathing but had passed out, so I asked Cal to call the paramedics. While he did that I came up here and shot at Claude, but when I looked up to see if I had hit him, he was gone," I said while panting.

"Amélie, everything is fine now, calm down."

Sebastian had taken Cal and me over to the park like I had originally planned on doing. We were now sitting on a bench under a tree looking at people passing by.

"Amélie, what do you do for work exactly?" Cal asked.

"Police type work," I said, looking at my feet swinging under the bench.

"You're too young. Just tell me, it can't be that bad."

"Yes, it is. Just stay out of it."

"Ami, if my mom does this too then I want to know what's going on. I promise I won't tell Chloe."

"Oh my gosh, Chloe! We have to take her home," I said, trying to distract Cal from his question.

"Sebastian said he was going to take her back. Don't worry about it. Tell me what's going on."

"Ok, well Sebastian is a daemon and I made a contract with him so he has to find a purpose for my life and I am like the underworld police and I take care of problems Paris has with daemons and your mom does the same things," I said really fast, because I thought it would not sound as bad if I did.

"What? I barely caught any of that. Only that you're under a contract with a daemon and my mom and you do police work for the underworld. Did I hear you right?"

"Yup. You got it all."

"Just wanted to make sure. Sebastian is your daemon? What does that entail, how did that happen?"

"You know how I have had nightmares since I was really little?"

"Yeah."

"Well I met him in one of those, but it turned out it wasn't just a dream. It was real, so now I have complete control over him until he helps me fulfill my wish, and then he eats my soul. Of course he already tried to do that, but for some reason he couldn't. He still seems kind of upset by that."

"And my mom, does she have a contract too?"

"Not that I know of. Like I said, I really don't see the other people all that much. Only at parties. Do you want me to take you back home? It's getting late," I said as the lamps in the park turned on.

"It's ok, I'll just get a taxi."

"Ok, get back safely."

"Amélie, you might want this back." He tossed the gun over to me as he walked away.

I walked out of the park and saw the moon coming up through the trees. It reminded me of the night I had first met Claude. I shuddered at the thought and remembered how scared I was that Sebastian had left me again. I still could not believe how much I really needed him. I saw Sebastian come down one of the other trails that led to the one I was walking on.

"Did you get Chloe back home?" I asked.

"Yes. I can understand now why you did not want to go shopping with her. I see Cal has left, how did your conversation with him go?"

"Better than I expected. I think he still is a bit skeptical."

"I think he will understand just fine."

"Yeah, I guess so. Especially since his mom does this too."

"She does?"

"Yeah, I'm not sure what part of France she takes care of though."

"Now, what do you want for dinner? You look hungry."

"Anything, but I would prefer to eat at home. It's been a long day."

We had gotten to the curb where my bike was parked. Sebastian got on first and I climbed on after. I put my arms around him and buried my head in his jacket. I always did that when I was worried. Somehow it made me feel like I was safe and nothing would hurt me. Even if he wasn't by my side, I could always call and he would come.


End file.
